Strike Down the Ibis
by Quinhwyvar
Summary: A fraccion gets a problem when she is forced to work with the self-sufficient Ulquiorra Schiffer. Beyond that, can she make him keep her around? Her own troubles start building...NOT UlqxOC COMPLETE!
1. I  Therefore I am Fired

**I**

**Therefore I am Fired**

"Sola! Come here before I give up on your useless case and drill a hole in your head!" Szayel screamed as I vaulted my way through the mess that he had just created. I had to assume that his last experiment didn't go well by all the shattered beakers. It was just a guess. The death threats were the daily coffee around here. It woke you up and made you start jumping.

"What can I help you with?" I surveyed the taller man's back as he gripped some sort of jar that was labeled: _"toxic do not drink/touch/smell/spill"._

"I need you-no-I need you to-no-I will need you to…" his hand constricted on the jar. I shoved a piece of glass around with my toe. He would get to it eventually. The glass jammed in a crevasse and casually slipped into the residence of my big toe. I bit my tongue. Too late, an infamous 'ouch' already left the station.

"WOULD YOU JUST SHUT UP!" I eluded the flying toxin, a new hole started to grow in the already demolished wall, "You don't know when to be quiet. Yammering all the time, it ruins my thoughts. I almost figured out how reassemble my experiment before you started making stupid noises."

An impish smile dragged its self across his face, "Ah, of course, you have already figured it out, haven't you now? Please, enlighten me. How should I get my experiment back?"

I glanced around. I couldn't see an arm or a leg of whatever he had been working on. Liquid, papers, wires, glass, and part of the ceiling looked like they had been massacred where they previously stood.

"Uh…" drawled out of my mouth, "Maybe…" I floundered around, "A mop? A broom? …bucket?"

Szayel smirked and his voice got a familiar edge to it, "And this is the reason that you have been stuck with me; as a cruel joke shot into the audience for the amusement of others. You are truly _worthless_."

"Can I say it?" I pointed my finger into the air, "I've never said it to myself before." The scientist was too caught off guard to counter my interjection.

I slithered my voice with as much sap as possible, "Sola, I deem you ineffective and a hassle. Without further ado, I reject you from my fracción." I threw out my hand and tilted my head up in the best boastful manner I could.

"Then you'll go on to gloat about how almost every single Espada has done the same as you, _Szayel."_ I sassed at him. It didn't even replay for a millimeter of all the sweeping glass, cleaning tubes, and washing out gunk from who-knows-what that he ordered me do.

The Espada's hand shot out and slithered around my throat. To my surprise, Szayel dragged me off my feet. I thought he was weaker than that. His breath smelled minty unfresh as I pretended that I didn't notice that there wasn't any air coming through my air pipe.

"You _are_ broken, Arrancar," His other hand went to my slash and yanked out my sword to prove his point, "soon Lord Aizen will get past this delusion he has about you being a fracción. You _will_ die and I will be there to dissect the pieces."

Bang went the lab's door and smash went my body as it collided with the inevitable wall. I probably would have split my head open if I wasn't used to being thrown out entryways. I sat there on the pure white floor and spat blood from my cracked lip. Oops, the floor wasn't white anymore.

"Hey," I looked up at the passing Arrancar as my left eye started closing from the impact. I knew I was quite the sight now.

The door flew open and out came the yell, "And take your stupid sword!"

The Espada jumped back to avoid the said object from impaling him. Sword came scuttling through the air, aimed straight for my head. It didn't make it, instead it settled for right next to my ear.

"Guess what? I'm your new fracción now," Ulquiorra paused and looked down at me incredulously.

I wiped my lip again.

Ah well, so much for a good first impressions.

* * *

><p><em>There is more to come, trust me. This story is basically practice for me to get my style and writing skills back after such a long time away. A review always gives the invisible awesome badge in my book. :)<em>

_-Quinhwyvar_

_Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she disproves of this)._


	2. II Whom it May Concern: I Hate Ulquiorra

**II**

**Whom it May Concern-I Hate Ulquiorra Schiffer**

It took a day before I hooked up with the Cuatro's gang. Honestly, I didn't want the break. The administrative stuff took that long to be official. Or to be less polite, for Ulquiorra argue with Lord Aizen. That day I spent being chased around Las Noches like a stray dog.

In a new, clean uniform, I sauntered into the Arrancar's room on my first day. There he was, in a white jacket, in a white room, sitting on a white chair, a white pen in his hand, and writing on a white-stupid-desk. Some days, I just wanted to go to the World of the Living, get a dozen and a half different neon colored spray cans and go loony. Until that day, I would just have to pretend that I was happy with the color scheme.

"What are you doing in here fracción?" Each one of Ulquiorra Schiffer's syllables was accented with a light dash of get-of-here-or-I-will-kill-you. He hadn't even bothered to remember my name. Ah well, I was always expecting too much anyways.

"I," I swooped into the lowest bow I could do without falling over, "am here to do your ever-wonderful bidding until the day that I die."

The song of scratching didn't stop as his green eyes slid to glare at me, "Aren't you a little cocky now for being on your last leg?"

It was true. If I didn't become chums with Ulquiorra, Lord Aizen would have no choice but to kill me. Who said it had to make sense? Most of the time, everybody was in the dark of what the head honcho was thinking.

I straightened up and returned the look, "Yes, I know that. I'm sick of trying to please you Espada. I mediated with Zommari for ten hours once. It was as boring as watching paint peel. Did he keep me around? Nope. I fought Nnoitra even though I can hardly hold a sword straight. Did he keep me around? Uh-uh. Aaroniero was the best. I saw him once, and then two months later, he just randomly threw me out."

"Yes, you are my last chance," I shrugged, "I'm done being what people want. If you don't want that, too bad, 'cause here I am."

He relined his gaze to his paper, "I was informed you were disrespectful, but you don't even try to sound respectful towards your superiors."

At this point in my short hollow career, I didn't care. I was expecting to receive the sharp of end of the sword any day, might as well forget the lies.

"Since you are obviously not aware of the rules of my fracción, I will explain, trash," the pen skimmed across the paper.

"There are only two, easy enough for your brain. Number one, you must stay out of my sight. Clearly, that means that this room is off limits until I leave."

He paused and I waited till he decided to finish. I didn't think that he would be the spacey type.

"Didn't you hear me? This room is _off limits,_ now."

Yeah, I heard him. I thought he might finish with the new rules of my life before kicking me out. I reversed my engine and backed up until I was barely inside the room. He kept on writing. I went a tiny bit further out into the hall. Lingering there, he must have seen me somehow, contradicting himself.

"Two, you will never assist me beyond the daily needs of this castle. I work alone. Never come to my aid or follow me," What kind of stupid boring life did he expect me to live?

"Nor will you ask me anything, tell me anything or even speak to me. I don't have time for your empty mind," Well, that clearly put complaints out of the question. Ulquiorra's full attention returned to his paper. I wondered stupidly what to do next.

I stood there until one of his other fracción's arms dragged me away, telling me how stupid I was. Like I didn't know that.

* * *

><p>The last thing I expected to do under Ulquiorra's wonderful and stunning leadership was make his bed. Yet, it was week #3 and every morning after he left for his daily Espada meetings, I was there, folding up his bed and mopping his floor.<p>

I pulled up the last sheet and pressed out the creases. Never in a million years, did I think that I would be a housemaid. Every other fracción had something important to do but I was stuck with the house work. Hey, at least I got the rest of the day off to do whatever I wanted to do. That prospect flopped like a dead fish. There turned out to be nothing to do other than to wander the halls.

I positioned the steaming hot teapot on the table and yanked up his chair. The chair unhappily accepted my weight and I poured myself a cup of his tea. He wouldn't notice as I breathed in the leaf brewed mixture.

They were still talking about boring stuff. I could envision the Espada arguing over who was going to do the laundry and filing. They didn't even do the stuff they were assigned personally, yet they argued. It would take them another hour before they figured _that_ out, let alone how to conquer the Soul Society.

I sipped his warm tea, enjoying the good life until I dozed off. It's really amazing how fast two hours speed by when you have nothing else to do.

I swear the door should have woken me up, but no, of course it didn't. It was the phrase that caused most hollows to scamper away or beg for mercy.

"What are you doing, trash?"

Ulquiorra's face was really not the first thing that I wanted to see when I woke up. It's like waking up with a sword leering in your face. Yeah, that pleasant.

I yawned and set the tea down, "Just enjoying your tea, it's really good. What's in it?"

"A sedative," the dead pan answer caused me to almost drop the cup.

"Oh, well then, I really suggest that you don't drink it," I slid his chair back and stood. Hopefully, he didn't notice that the hairs on the back on my neck were doing a little dance. I started walking to the door, hoping that he wouldn't stop me. No such luck.

"What are you doing in this room fracción?" He blocked the only exit. I redirected my path to the cleaning cart; hiding behind it was the only kind of defense that I could think of.

"I was doing your dirty-I mean, cleaning your room as per usual Master Ulquiorra." That word flaked rust. "Master", I hated that adjective, but at this point I didn't have much of a choice.

"Drinking my tea everyday is what you call doing my dirty work?" I winced, the cat ran far, far, far away from the bag.

"Uh…I was checking it for…poison! We all have enemies. I thought that I would be showing you my loyalty by risking my life for yours." Lying through my teeth, I rattled the cart towards the door.

A pale hand stopped the rattling, "Really? Now, if I believed you, then you would be seemingly off the hook. We both know that you don't care about me beyond that I keep you alive. It is a common fact you don't have any loyalty to anything or anyone."

I gave the cart a shove, yeah, it wasn't going anywhere. I tried to think of another way that I could get out of this mess. The air thickened up like some sort of evil witch's brew.

"Uh, kinda…" I had more to that sentence but it wasn't coming out. It probably had something to do with the two eyes that were trying to dissect my brain with mini lasers.

"I realize that you don't care about your welfare anymore, but still there must be some reason that you disobey my orders," I held back my responses, honestly I hadn't disobeyed his order until he walked in the door. That was _his _fault.

Ulquiorra started sliding closer from the cart, "I really dislike trash like you. You're a waste of my time."

I abandoned the cart's meager defense. It could have been more useful if I had thrown it. Alas, I couldn't lift a slug.

As he started getting within prodding-with-a-sword radius, my nerves sparked. I had seen him in action. It was like a _flash! _and a _bang!_ and multiple enemies on their backs and filling out forms to find their missing organs. My zanpakuto climbed into my hands. It wouldn't be much use anyways.

"Do you really think a half grown sword is going to increase your chances?" His hand flashed and my sword danced over the moon with the spoon. Like I said, it wasn't going to be much help. The cart accordingly tumbled to the ground with the aftershock.

"No, but I would rather have it then not," My mouth tended to run on its own when I'm distracted with a life or death situation. I retreated a tad bit more from the sword and its master.

Ulquiorra paused and surveyed the progressing mess on the floor. Cleaning solution, polishing goo, snaky rags, and other various torture devises I used to clean were trying to make their escape. Slowly leaking from the cart onto the floor, they were turning into an unidentifiable, arbitrary shape.

A tiny flash of brilliance popped in my brain. I fell to my knees and grasped the closest escapee.

"Here, let me get this," I gibbered. The slime from the rag found a new home on my hands. Into a rolling bucket, the rag fell and I waited for my head to fly away. I got another rag in, then a handful of muck, and then an empty container. The espada brooded overhead as I gathered up more goo.

"Clean that up and leave."

I froze. He _wasn't_ going to kill me now? Ulquiorra's feet tapped away and his chair groaned. In my imagination, it was complaining about the fact that he hadn't killed me.

My brain was in a confused traffic jam. I thought that I was ready for the strike. Was I supposed to be happy now? My fingers crept out from under me like snails and seized another rag.

I shook the stoplights from my head. I grabbed another bottle. There were other times to ponder my impermanence. I hadn't really thought of it as that: "impermanence". Suddenly, I wished that I had a shirt with the word: "permanent" in flashing yellow and spewing confetti. The bottle went bang into bucket.

Ulquiorra sat there and ignored me, fine by me. I shoved my thoughts from my mind and did my job. I dug in the cart for the mop. Stupid déjà vu, this wasn't the first time that I had to clean up this mess. Two days ago, another espada just had his lid flipped and went out of his way to nicely throw my cart into a wall. He had guffawed away happily. Karma was never on my side.

After getting most of the muck off the floor, I looked at the Arrancar that almost killed me. Ulquiorra was book straight in the chair; writing some piece of literature. I betted it was a formal request to kill me. He was such a stickler for rules.

I stuffed the mop away and surveyed the clean floor. I gave the cart a push and it ran from the room. _Thanks for nothing Ulquiorra,_I mentally sayonaraed. The sound that door made as it closed could be heard throughout Las Noches.

Oops.

Did I care?

Nope. Never have. Never will.

* * *

><p><em>It's a miracle! Chapter 2 is finally up! Honestly this is really chapter 3-4. The real chapter 1 was cut for boring reasons, so that made chapter 2 number 1. Then this chapter is two chapters together because I thought that the first part was too short. Yes, before you ask, I am picky about my writing.<em>

_I like that word, guffawed (laugh boisterously). I want to be able to say: "I guffawed evilly as I stole a cookie." Doesn't that just sound awesome?_

_Review please!_

_-Quin_

_Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she disproves of this). _


	3. III Start of Disaster

**III**

**Start of Disaster**

It turned out, when you have nothing to do, things can start to bug you. Like an itchy rash on your brain, it keeps crying until you do something about it. I had one of those rashes. This rash was ticked off at a certain Espada for the fact that he: A. didn't kill me and/or B. didn't even try to care if he did or not.

I was debating to somehow poison Ulquiorra's tea or spray paint his room pink. The options were truly limitless. All these idea would get me killed. Somewhere along this violent train of thoughts I recalled a phrase from the stone age of my life. I flipped it over a couple times in my brain before deciding why not? I had nothing to lose.

'Keep your friends close, your enemies closer,' still danced around in my head as I stepped out on a street in the World of the Living.

People streamed around me, ignoring the girl with the expression that probably looked like she had just stepped into a totally different universe. Wow, news flash, I had.

There were advantages to being Szayel's fracción, minus the death defying situations and threatens of being hammered open and dissected. I didn't enjoy that part, perhaps that's just me.

In any case, I learned to use the garganta to send other higher classed Arrancars through. Ever seen one just awesomely walk through the garganta? Yeah, there was some poor fracción holding it open. Now, that skill was finally coming in handy.

From my very limited knowledge of everything, I did know that I didn't want a shinigami on my tail. Wanna talk about me being skewered? Nah, rather not. I took something illegal to stop that. Technically, it was a "someone". From a longtime request from Lord Aizen, Syael created the hollow gigai.

Incognito Arrancars could terrorize the Soul Society, especially if the body could hide the reiatsu of the user. There would be no way to detect an Arrancar from a newborn human baby. Annoying for them? Yes. Great for us? Are you kidding me? It was wonderful!

They were a smash hit with the Números. It stubbed the toe of anything above, especially when Grimmjow got stuck. Literally, his angry spiritual pressure melted the thing to his _real_ body. I was in charge of peeling the thing off; it was like trying to take the skin off an apple with no knife. The Espada's howling could be heard for miles. Grimmjow's humiliation stuck with him and I reminded him of that. I have almost died "on accident" by his hands ever since. Lightly put, the project went to the backburner with style.

I moved down the street, hoping nobody would notice. The city sang with motion, unhollowifed animals, multicolored plantlife, chromatic colored buildings, and non psychotic people. The last part was nice, I smiled. This world was so odd compared to mine. It was because the recall on my life before Lord Aizen dragged me from a hollow existence was zero.

A bus chugged by and I fingered the coins in my pocket. I could have lived here. This could have been home, granted in some random hole. Anyone of these people could have been an old friend of mine. Did they miss me? Would they even miss me? Should I be missed?

I shook my head and picked up the pace. I killed countless humans, ate their souls and then moved on to other hollows. I dragged myself through a dark world, waiting for my chance to rip off another's head. There was no home in the World of the Living for me.

A destination loomed into existence. "Urahara's Shop" was on the sign and hopefully tea was their specially. I reminded myself to be "home" before breakfast and opened the door.

The front was a mess and crowed. A group of teenagers in the corner talked up a storm and two littler kids ran around wielding brooms. Instantly, my internal problems radar had a heart attack. The inside of the place was infested with spirit energy.

My _brilliant_ mind realized a decade late that the gigai capped my ability to sense the spiritual pressure. Now it was in my face and breathing down my throat. Not only now was I going to get killed, but I was about to throw Lord Aizen's plans in complete and utter hazardousness danger. Brilliant, just brilliant.

I turned tail to run. I failed though because my entrance had been spotted by a certain shopkeeper.

"A prospective customer! How may I help you today?"

"Agh….uh…yeah…." the words "dead" and "stupid" were doing the waltz in my head. Coherent responses weren't my forte anyways. I tried to break for the door. I realized that deer-in-the-headlights syndrome had kicked in. I wasn't going anywhere.

"We have an assortment of household and cleaning goods," he grinned from under his hat and sashayed closer, "don't even get me started on the food."

"Tea," I croaked, "my…boss wants some new tea. He likes strange it-I mean- tea. He likes strange tea." I would smack myself in any other place or time. The kids in the corner stopped conversing and started staring. The shopkeeper never missed a beat.

"Tea?" He beamed, "We have the widest and most unusual variety of tea. You have come to the right place, my friend. What tea do you have in mind?"

Which one was the Soul Reaper? Where was the sword? Would the gigai really work at close range like this?

"Anything...different."

I walked like a broken toy solder after him as he glided to a shelf. Best to act that I was nothing but an oblivious human, I concluded. They just might not notice the Arrancar in the room. The teens resumed their chatting and the shop cat came out from hiding. The man popped open a box and my nose felt like it had been hit by a dung covered baseball bat.

I looked at the compartments and my mind became a black hole of nothingness. I didn't know zilch about tea. I couldn't even make it. This was Ulquiorra's obsession. I just drank it when he wasn't looking. Pretending that I expert in the field, I plopped a finger on my chin and stared.

It all looked like the same blackened crumbled junk, I discovered. I hoped that one of the teas would jump up and sing: "I am Ulquiorra's favorite!" Not today. Probably not ever. There was always hope.

"Anything that will strike your boss's fancy?" The shopkeeper asked after five minutes of my "deliberation".

I mentally eeny-meeny-miny-moed and pointed to a box with large dried black stuff, "That one looks like it will be good."

He raised an eyebrow, "Black dried roses? That's got a tang to it; nothing's going to cut that flavor."

"Yeah, that sounds good, just give me enough to last a month," Never again was I going shopping for someone I hated. The result wasn't worth it. I shoved my hand in my pocket and retrieved the cash. I took it off some guy that wasn't looking. He looked rich enough not to notice for a while or at all.

The shopkeeper took the stolen money and retreated to ring up the order. I sighed mentally, this was almost over. The black shop cat purred over and rubbed herself again my leg. Trying to keep my composer was hard enough, I yelped at the creature's touch.

"Oh, don't mine Yor-the cat, she's just really friendly," Came the comment from behind the counter. My mind ran around like a helpless headless chicken. What would a human do? I tried to think back to anything that might be helpful. Pet the cat, came the answer finally, pet the cat and smile.

My hand obeyed my brain and touched the black fur. The smile came automatically. She was soft. There was nothing like that in Las Noches, everything there wasn't about comfort, but function. I reached out to her again. Instead of fur, I got the teeth. I drew back and the cat fled. The gigai's blood made a mess on the floor. I swore under my breath, don't make a scene now.

I caught the quick smile of the shopkeeper before his face turned apologetic, "I'm sorry! I guess she's in a bad mood. Do you want me to bandage that up for you?"

I was paranoid now. The energy was getting on my nerves. It was everywhere, making the person impossible to pinpoint. Think of trying to find a singular piece of sand while drowning in the stuff. That impossible.

"No thanks," I jumped up and snatched the order, "I've really got to go, thanks for the tea." I found that sand particle the moment I touched his hand by mistake. I shoved the bleeding hand away and fled. I expected the shinigami to come screaming after.

I tried to think of an escape as I tipped down the street. It would take huge amount of concentration to get the garganta open. It was like a baby, sometimes it needed convincing. In any case, it's not something that could be done on the run. If the shopkeeper was on my tail it would be like giving him a golden ticket to Las Noches. I dodged random humans and made for an alleyway. I pushed the limits of the gigai, if I discarded it, every alarm that the Soul Society would go off.

It took me six different backstreets to realize that he wasn't coming after my skin. Maybe he didn't figure it out in time or perhaps I was just too fast for him. The latter was wishful thinking and I knew it. Falling to my knees, I immediately started the chant to open the garganta. There was no way that I was going to stick around.

I placed my hands on the bricks underneath me, shut my eyes and concentrated, _"My right hand is the stone that bridges swords. My left hand is the blade that binds reality."_

The water-like tingle started in the tips of my fingers and slowly flowed up to my elbows. I reached out with both hands, not through the air, but through the fabric of this universe.

"_The black-haired shepherd is hung from a chair,"_ I never got any part of the incantation, but hey, it worked. I found the familiar spiritual pressure of world that Lord Aizen called home and yanked.

"_Stratus clouds come," _I ripped open the hole and breathed the final line, _"and I strike down the ibis."_

I fled from this awful world, unknowingly being watched. All of this for a month's worth of tea, it better be worth it.

* * *

><p><em>Oh! So now the title makes sense now doesn't it? But was does a gargata chant have do with all this? Guesses? Ideas? <em>

_I really think that Ulquiorra would like a tea with a tang to it. It just seems like something that he would like something with a little punch. Dry rose tea is a real tea by the way; I see it all the time when I go the coffee shop. Never had it though…_

_Right now, I'm starting to write the climax of this story (I have a buffer) and it's going to be exciting. Don't expect an update next week, I think that I am going to be on vacation were there will be no printer._

_Reviews make my day, just felt like mentioning it. :) _

_-Quin_

__Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she disproves of this).__


	4. IV A Box, A Burnt Finger, & Tea

**IV**

**A Box, A Burnt Finger & Tea**

"Aw crap," I mumbled as I cataloged the damage to the borrowed body. I really didn't think a cat could bite like a shark. I marched through the white halls of the one and only Las Noches. My final destination? Szayel Aporro Granz's doom and gloom lab.

I forced myself to stop and bandage the hand on the way. I had to make it stop leaking as before I stashed the body. Nobody could know that I had a little joy ride in the World of the Living; those sorts of things never set well with Lord Aizen. I came to the door, the lab would be empty. This late at "night" the place would be hopefully drained of life. Astonishingly, even Szayel needed sleep.

I thumbed in the code with my good hand. The back door hummed open. He didn't even bother change the password. He probably thought that I was an idiot and forgot the code or, maybe, he assumed that I was smart enough never to come back again. Highly doubted the latter, I was doing it.

Green "nightlights" illuminated tubes of…_stuff,_ I learned not to look in those glass tanks a long time ago. I walked through the various rooms stuffed to the brim. I had cleaned them just a month ago. Gee…times flies when you're having fun. The sooner I got out of here the better, I didn't want to end up floating in jelly.

The very, very, very back room was the place where the psycho scientist kept an emergency supply of food, a huge amount of unfiled paperwork and his "unproductive" AKA failed projects. The door cracked open to find an even more problematic scene then just a bleeding hand.

"Why in the world are you here, Nnoitra?" Among the boxes and piles of paper sat the Espada with a yawning box in front of him. Of course, his big behind was planted right on the reject gigai box. He did it out of spite, I was sure of it.

He ripped another bite out of a protein bar, ignoring my question, he asked his own, "Look who's in a gigai, a lover in the World of the Living, eh?"

I shook my head and mimicked him. He was eating the worm eaten, five hundred year old food. There was a proper kitchen just down the hall.

"Why are you eating that stuff?"

"Kitchen's locked up," he smacked, crumbles fell away on to the floor, "I'm hungry."

Oh yeah, that answered _everything._ I peeled off the gigai off and it became a crumbled mess at my feet. Pain danced around from my head to my hand. Another glitch, damage went straight to my real body. I hoped that wouldn't happen.

"You didn't answer the question, what about the World of the Living?" His voice sharpened as another bar migrated to his mouth. Didn't he have taste buds?

"I went shopping for Ulquiorra," I waggling the brown paper bag in his face. Might as well keep to the truth. Nnoitra chewed it over, how could I get him off of that crate.

"You should just admit that you have a boyfriend. That would make it easier…" I rolled my eyes, did I look like the type of Arrancar that would go for that?

"…to explain to Aizen." He finished.

He hated me. He still wanted to get me killed. For a second there, I thought he had finally forgotten about his little mishap. Why couldn't he just get over it?

Keeping my cool, I tried to keep the dread of facing Aizen from leaking out, "Come on, don't tell me that you don't go there without permission. I've see your collection of CDs, where do you think those come from?"

Another bar was gone, he reached in the box for something else, "My fraccións go and get them for me, I sign a fancy sheet of paper and off they go."

"That's what Ulquiorra did for me, perfectly legal."

The Espada gave a short laugh, "We both know Mr. Don't-Interfere-With-Me would send _you, _of all his fan base, to do his shopping. He would just go himself, end of story."

"True, but I could point out that you are eating our emergency food which is prohibited."

Now he laughed hard and long, "You just crack me up, as an Espada you don't have to deal with all those dinky little rules. I can do whatever I want. Even if it did matter, who would listen to you?"

I mentally agreed with him. Nobody would ever listen to me. At the same time, who would listen to him? He was the one that was sitting on a crate, in an area that he wasn't supposed to be in, eating illegal food, breaking about twenty different rules at once and laughing about it. I shoved the tea into my pocket. Things were about to turn to action.

"Fine, I'll meet you at my execution," Leaving the gigai on the floor, I shrugged and turned to leave. The figure behind me blurred as he used sonído to bar the door, just as I hoped.

He breathed energy bar crumbles right in my face, lovely, "Why don't we just push that execution up to today?"

"Nah, rather not," I commented and copied his move. I couldn't use the Soul Reaper's equivalent to a flash step well as Nnoitra, but I had surprise on my side. As Nnoitra realized that he was talking to air, I shoved the body in the now unoccupied box.

"Tch, fine, do it that way," He growled as the box clicked close. His sword nipped into my back the second later, he was fast. I fell forward, just beyond the half moon's range and attempted sonído. Wrapping his free hand around my arm, he threw me at a wall instead.

I got lucky. Way beyond lucky, my sonído took effect just as the wall rammed into me. Alternatively, Nnoitra unknowingly flung me down a hall. I banged up against the ground and blanked out for a second. Rolling like a bottle, I acrossed the ground until a wall kindly stopped me.

"Yep, he still wants to kill me," I comforted myself as I came to, just another person to add to the list. I rolled onto my back to check for any lasting damage: broken limbs, missing parts, smashed cartilage, or anything of that sort. Besides the tear in the back of my jacket, I was spotless.

I must have drunk a "create-your-own-luck" potion because everything had almost gone right. That would a first in my career. Lucky me. I summoned my limbs under me and continued to go on my merry little way. Hopefully, Nnoitra would keep this under his hood for now. I had tea to boil or was that steep?

It took two hours, five broken tea pots, a cracked mug, one and a half minor fire explosions, a burnt finger and the rest of my energy to correctly steep the cup of tea. By the time this was completed, the rest of the "family" was up, drank their collative cups of coffee and onto the daily drag of various meetings.

My hands did the hula as I carried the tray of unusual tea to the Espada's room. The whole place seemed to sway back and forth, but I ignored that. I stumbled across my cleaning cart and ungracefully dropped the tray on it. Thankfully, the tea didn't spill, because I just about had it.

Sliding his door open, I shoved the cart into the room, as I had done yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before the day before that. I forced my fingers around the handles of the tray and took it to its final destination. It clattered to the desk and almost spilled out again. The pot sighed steam in relief.

Hopefully, he would like it. I did it because…actually, I was so tired that I couldn't even remember why. If he didn't like it, then we would just have to have a heart to heart about it. That's all.

"Why are you here?"

I happened to look up. Ulquiorra was sat as his desk, pen in hand. How did I not notice this tiny, little detail? I had no idea.

"Aren't you in a meeting right now?" I hoped this was an illusion of my tired mind. I didn't know if I could deal with an Espada right now. One angry Arrancar was enough to fill my daily queue.

"Half of Szayel Aporro Granz's lab was destroyed last night; the meeting was canceled due to his experiments. I sent my fraccións to help his sorry case, why are you not with them?" Yep, this was the real and truly annoying Ulquiorra Schiffer.

"Tea. I made you tea," My voice sounded like I banged it against a wall. Straightening up like a broken stick, I tried to look better than I felt.

"You were not ordered to make tea," He serenely commented and set the pen down.

"I know," I yawned, "Look, I really don't care. Drink it. Slip it. Enjoy it. Muse over it. Do whatever you do," I turned, stumbled to the cart and lead it out of the room. He could make his own bed for all I cared, sleep awaited me.

I swear, I slept better than day than ever before. That's before I was woken up by another Arrancar, who told me that Ulquiorra was demanding to see me. It didn't sound good.

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><p><em>That's right readers, Sola tries to do something nice and it backfires in her face. This is the sad life of a fraccion. I really sorta hate this chapter, probably because I can't seem to get the words to say what I want. I gave up and here is the result.<em>

_Reviews are epic and appreciated. _

_-Quin_

_Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she disproves of this)._


	5. V Defective Luck, Please Return

**V**

**Defective Luck, Please Return**

I stared at the door. For some bizarre reason, it glowered at me and I didn't like it. How many times had I walked through this door? A billion and one? It was a_ door. _Now the stone had awoken from its slumber and decided to inform me: "You shall not pass!"

I winced as I dug into the reminder of the half healed bite on my hand. I received it only four hours ago and already the scab fell off. I sighed at the door. Dreading the results of my actions, I entered Ulquiorra Schiffer's domain.

He stood underneath the window this time, a first for me, the typical writing action wasn't happening. Not that looking out that stupid window was any better, the moon never bothered to change.

"I was sleeping you know," I complained. I rubbed the back of my head, trying to wipe the nonexistent cobwebs away.

He ignored my words, "My tea wasn't in that tea pot."

"Nope, it was…black dried rose tea, I think," Buying that seemed like ages ago, it reminded me of that Soul Reaper, was he going to blab to his friends or what?

"Did you tamper with my tea?" Ulquiorra faced me. I scowled, did he like it or not? The unemotional face of nothingless didn't mention an answer. 'Tampered' thought, wasn't a good-job-Sola type of word.

"Yes. I guess you could say that," My arm dropped to my side as a frown grew on his face like a weed.

"Don't do it again."

"What? You didn't like it?" I squawked, feeling like I had just been word smacked. I bet my expression showed it. I wasn't any good at hiding my reactions, unlike the Grand Master in the room.

"That's all I want to say to you."

"No, you can't say that, I risked my life to get your that tea, don't just throw it out," I pronounced each syllable as calmly as possible.

"I can."

I twitched and started losing the battle to keep my voice level, "No, you can't. That's just not fair."

"Nothing in this world is fair. You must have realized this in your puny brain by now, nothing is fair."

"Come on! You have got to get bored of that tea. You drink like a teapot and a half of the stuff every day," My voice squeaked.

"That does no concern you. Now, go before I deliver further actions on this," I locked my lips and followed his finger to the door. Word rammed their way around in my mouth, but I wasn't going to push it.

I stomped from his room and exploded, mentally anyways. What an ungrateful jerk! I risked my life for that pot of tea and I get what? A 'don't do that again' and a finger to the door? A 'thanks' would have eased the rejection, but no! Not from the oh-high-and-mighty Ulquiorra Schiffer!

"Hey! You! Soleena!"Those word shattered my though and broke me away from my rampaging agitation. I growled around to see another of his fraccións galloping towards me. She was pruney, puny kid with her black hair failing to resemble anything close to any hairdo.

"It's Sola! What do you want?" I was a bad virus to other fraccións, causing death, destruction and disappointment. Everybody tried not to breathe five feet close to me. It was absurdly possible that it was true, considering this prime example of my defective luck.

She huffed in my face, "Do 'ya have any more of that stuff you served Master Ulquiorra today?"

I envisioned hurling the tea out the closest windows, but for this second the bag was crawling in my pocket, "Yeah. So what?"

"I need it; he wishes to drink it in the morning."

"Hold it a second, he _liked _it?" I shuffled through my chat with the Espada. He never said he hated it. I threw my seriously lacking observational skills out the window instead and resolved to do better.

"I suppose," the fracción's off handed remark made me even madder with myself.

"I just went in there, got a verbal beating, and now you're telling me he liked it?" My finger matched the direction that I had just stormed.

"Master Ulquiorra shows his praise in a very different way."

A very screwed up way, I grumped mentally, "I suppose there's not much to say to that."

"Tell 'Master' Ulquiorra to enjoy it, I'm heading to bed. This day stinks," I shoved the tea at her and returned to my pathetic room.

I dropped on the white bed for the second time. Why did the Arrancar have to be so confusing? Couldn't Ulquiorra just tell me that he liked it? I corrected my first question, why did _he_ have to be so confusing?

I balled my fist and glared at it like it was Ulquiorra's face. My situation was aggravating, I told myself not to do this whole Espada-pleasing thing again and yet, here I was. Around and around in a big wheel I went.

A feeling jarred me back from my thinking, my hand was really soft. Even with my tiny amount of spiritual pressure I had an onion skin of hierro. I pried my palm open, the cat bite had patched up nicely and the color of the skin had changed ever so slightly. The pink quilt-like patch was hardly noticeable to the eye.

I poked it again; that wasn't hierro, I knew that. I felt to my back, Nnoitra's sword got me once. The scar was soft too. My hand plopped on my face and I moaned. I was even confusing to myself now. I rolled over, I would deal with it in the morning.

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><p><em>What this? Signs of an actual plot coming to effect? Woah!<em>

_I just had too, sorry, but yes, for here out the story should pick up some speed. This story is done being written, I worked hard and long, but it looks like it's 20 chapters and about 26,000 words roughly. I hope that you enjoy it!_

_Reviews=awesome._

_-Quin_

_Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she disproves of this)._


	6. VI Why Sand? Why?

**VI**

**Why Sand? Why?**

Ignoring the patches of weaker skin was harder than I thought. They were everywhere and all that remained from my large collection of cuts, scrapes or bangs. My daily life marched on and I became overly protective of the remainder of my natural protection.

Ulquiorra stopped actively looking for a reason to kill me or at least kick me out. I hoped that was a good sign. The Espada even caught me once drinking his tea and he just shook his head. I made myself scarce afterwards, but soon enough I was bold again. I guessed the tea did it. Where else could his tolerance come from?

A week unfolded itself after all this action and I found myself sneaking into the kitchen. There wasn't much substance to the meals. It did its job for about fifteen minutes and then like clockwork, hunger hop-skipped back.

I won't lie and say that I expected the arm that wrapped it's self around my shoulders. I was more a like half-asleep surprised. I didn't have time to ponder things as everything became a flashing blur. I knew a powerful soindo when I felt it. As quickly as I had swept off my feet, I was dumped head first in the sand. The sand? I was outside now?

I sucked up enough sand to fully coat my whole nasal system. To top it off, my guts were now convinced that they had been ripped out and then shoved back in. A soindo can do that, it was annoying. I rolled over and started breathing back up the sand.

"Why did you do that Ulquiorra?" I wiped my nose and glared. The Espada impassively watched on as I argued with my organs that they belonged _inside_ me.

"You are my fracción, are you not?" Shoving my hands in the sand for leverage, I regained a sitting position and shook the sand out of my ears.

"I wouldn't be cleaning your room if I wasn't, right?" I sneezed sand and juggled with the idea of trying to stand. I was still woozy, better not.

"Then you accept that I am your superior."

"I guess…does it matter?" I gave up on the stay sitting thing, "that still doesn't give the right to just pick me up and dump me in the middle of nowhere," My knee shook but I managed not to make a fool of myself. I double checked, we were in Hueco Mundo's endless desert AKA nowhere.

"It turns out that you are truly going to be my fracción," His hands sat in his pockets and I raised an eyebrow. Did I pass an exam or something? That begged the question: what was I before?

He coolly jammed over my question before I could ask it, "As such, I can not have you make a fool of me because you are not able defend yourself."

"So? What do you care?"

"I care, because Lord Aizen cares. As you should be aware of by now, my fraccións are _his _fraccións. By the logical order of Hueco Mundo, technically, his fraccións are the Espada," Ulquiorra stared at the sand like yesterday's news, "The Espada refuse to do his daily needs so Lord Aizen dips into my fraccións so he may have staff. Understand?"

I blinked, "This is the reason that I have a large amount of fraccións. Typically, I have two or three under my own personal control."

"I guess that makes sense," I did notice he hadn't bothered much with the others, "But I have a ques-"

"Whatever you have to say is nonsense. Draw your sword," He focused on me, like I had just spontaneously gotten back from vacation and hadn't been standing there the entire time.

I shrugged and my stomach started braiding itself again. I had enough natural talent with sword to fill a tablespoon. That wasn't the real problem, though I obeyed his command.

I stared at the weapon from the guard up. The sword was good for about a foot. The silver blade turned to glass and then faded into nothingness. Through the brown hilt of my zanpakuto, there was a flicker of life. Unconsciously, I reach out and blade solidified an inch more before falling back to the original point.

"I really can't fight," I admitted. Ulquiorra assessed the misfortune that was my sword.

He sighed lightly, "You have half a sword. You can block."

I was doubtful. I was in somewhere in the desert, in the middle of the night, with a half a sword and I was supposed to fight an Espada with it? Did this seem ridiculous? Yes, I happened to think so. He studied the flickering of the sword.

"Hand it over," Ulquiorra's hand came out and I went into shock.

"Eh_…What now?" _ I couldn't have heard him right. Even if it wasn't functional, my sword was part of my soul. When a Vasto Lorde graduates to an Arrancar, half of our soul is sealed in a sword. Did anybody ever wonder why we changed shape with a release? Obviously not. No Arrancar would think of switching swords like switching shirts. There were no trade-outs, exchanges or return-with-a-receipt in the world of zanpakuto.

"I want your zanpatuko, trash," His voice sharpened and there was a crack in his calm demeanor. That scared me.

"Fine-just-like-don't break it," I flipped my grasp on the sword and gave it away. I couldn't believe myself. I could feel Ulquiorra's grasp on the sword. The blade disappeared down to an inch. I shoved my hands in my pockets.

His hand tested the tiny hilt, as he watched the blade. I had small hands, it was _my_ sword. I felt his actions before I saw it. It was like a knife was trying to dig up my my stomach into my throat. Ulquiorra shoved more of his spiritual pressure into the weapon.

It stung like angry bees as my sword rejected the energy. I crumbled back down to the ground. He didn't stop, instead he pushed harder. My mind went on the fritz. I grabbed at my middle, trying to find another source for this pain.

"Please…stop that," I hissed. Too late for that. He wasn't listening. Did he ever? No, came the strangely rational thought, he never listened to anyone.

I jammed my mouth shut as he came onto my sword again. I had a serious moment of regret before the world flashed away from my mind. Oops, maybe I should have planned this one out better.

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><p><strong>Thanks to September Sky, Nizuna Fujieda, callmeBaby'08', Rose202, &amp; g0ldf1sh101 for reviewing! Thanks WordsThatCancelEachOtherOut,Toshiko Hitsugaya, &amp; maru101 for the favorite!<strong>

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><p><em>I checked my email the day after I posted the last chapter and went "Oh noodles*!" For the first time, I had a flood emails from fanfiction and most of them were reviews. Best to say that sunday was the best day of that week for me. So big thanks from me to everybody who reviewed (throws cookies).<em>

_On to the story, yes, that's the reason that Ulquiorra has fraccions, he doesn't use them, Aizen does. Also, I went out on a limb on the swords, but hey, Lilynette and Starrk are the same person, so I figured it's plausible._

_I really love the next chapter...no, I'm not going to tell you anything, you'll just have to wait till next weekend :)_

_Review=happy writer=faster editing=quicker posting...don't we all want that?_

_Thank you!_

_-Quin_

_*Ahem, I did not say "noodles" but this story is rated "T"...you get the idea_

__Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she disproves of this).__


	7. VII A Spiffy Sword

**VII**

**A Spiffy Sword**

"So, I was correct," my eyes flopped open as my brain rebooted. The familiar feeling of having been chewed up, spat out and left to crawl away made me wish for my bed.

"What…?" Dropped away and my brain failed to tell me why I was stuck in the sand. Oh right, Ulquiorra Cifer kidnapped me, demanded my sword and knocked me out with it. The pain disappeared from the premises and I found myself sitting position for the second time that night. This falling over process had to stop, getting up from the sand was getting old in a timely fashion.

My eyes surprised me. The Espada's hand hovered somewhere above me, holding my sword. That wasn't surprising, the sword was. My sword didn't have a full blown blade or look completely awesomely normal. I wobbled to my feet.

"What's that?" I mumbled as I checked to see if Ulquiorra's weapon was still at his side. His sword…what was that thing called again? Murtag? Laggio? Merci? Merriclangi? I hit gold after a second of annoying spanish thinking, _Murciélago. _Whatever, the fancy named sword was still in it's sheath. Deduction only left one option.

"It's your sword," He confirmed. Tossing it at me, I barely stopped the blade from cutting open my face. I clutched the hilt and it flickered at my attention.

I nervously tested the swing and the point danced away in the air, "How can this be?"

Ulquiorra drew his own sword and forced it into the sand, "Simple, since you have such insignificant spiritual pressure, your sword simply lacked enough to be whole. All I did was take a tiny amount of my own spiritual pressure and seal it into your sword. You can't release it, but trash like you never stood a chance anyways."

I paused my gusto. He was in me now? That disturbed me. I immediately felt his disgust for his environment creeping into my feelings. The sword fell my side. I wanted my old one back.

"Hold it one second, you're in me? I didn't sign up for _that,_" He frowned and left his sword behind.

"Idiot, no. I gave you my energy therefore when it transferred it became yours. I would never become…_involved_ with anything dispensable," I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be happy or insulted. I glanced back at my blade again, now I owed Ulquiorra Schiffer. Great.

I stood there as I tried to figure out everything. That turned out to be the worst thing I could do. Ulquiorra's sheath randomly rammed into my side out of nowhere and I went stumbling. There was no way I was going to fall into that sand again. I wobbled around but proudly kept my footing.

"Pay attention," Came his voice as I grabbed harder onto my new sword. Was this his idea of training? Because it seemed more like let's-whack-up-a- fracción then any real help. As the Espada attacked at a slower pace, I jumped aside.

The jumping away didn't work, instead he somehow ended up behind me. The piece of wood bit my ankle. Clamping onto my tongue, I swung at him. What a surprise, the sheath shot up and blocked my weapon. Even if it did hit, I probably couldn't do damage, it would be like trying to cut a piece of wood with a needle.

A black foot rolled up into the air, I dodged carefully. The sheath moved again. I could see it's path this time. I raised my sword, but still a second late. I darted off to make sure I still had a shoulder.

Ulquoirra stopped to watch. I could see he was thinking about how inadequate I was at this. Boo hoo, you're stuck with me. I lunged forward, a plain and boring forward attack wouldn't metaphorically cut it. I knew that. Being smarter than usual, I used sonido. I zoomed right onto his coat tails. A piece of his black hair touched my nose. Sneezing, I cursed my height.

His hand jabbed in out of nowhere and my face became full of sand. I hated the stuff. I burrowed over and found the Espada a fracción toss away. "Distain" could have been stamped in bold letters all over his face.

"You have no skills with the blade," his eyes watched as I ascended to my feet, "Your normal speed is pathetic, your sonido was slower than a paperweight, your spiritual pressure could be called a joke, and you have no brain for battle. Cleaning my room is the only skill that you will ever possess," He forecasted my future abilities and fate in seconds.

"Hey!" I shouted. There was a difference between evaluating and insulting, clearly he couldn't tell the difference.

"My evaluation is _correct, _unlike your mind," I shoved my anger into the ground with my toe. He was right and I knew it, but at least I _tried. _Didn't that give me brownie points? I wasn't going to argue, Ulquiorra Schiffer didn't change his mind. He didn't have an eraser in that noggin of his, he was born without one.

Spinning the sheath lightly in his hand, the subject of my thoughts dryly commanded, "Again."

"Seriously? You aren't going to show me how to use this thing?" I looked at the weapon in my hand. What I knew came from watching others, nobody bothered to teach me due to the obvious nature of my sword.

"No fracción, I will not," Ulquiorra's form jumped. A blink and a slash later, my sword flew away and I fell right on my back again. Pinning the piece of wood to my neck, he tried to prove his point. I squirmed under his immense pressure that leaked out at close range.

"You're dead," the Espada stated.

"I got that," closing my hand on sheath, I pushed it away from my collum, "trust me, I got it. That's the second time today; there must a record for that."

I crawled away in search of my weapon, "You've got to give me a hint or else I am 'dead' every couple seconds."

The Espada didn't answer. He was just _so_ much help. I wanted to write a Highly-Recommended-For-Higher-Management form and postcard it over to Lord Aizen. The sand relinquished my sword you'll get it back, I told it, trust me.

"Alright," I tested the swing thinking happier thoughts, "I'm ready."

Ulquiorra raised an eyebrow as I attempted to dance back and forth, pumping my sword. Others had done it, why wouldn't it work for me?

"That's not going to work," Mr. Pessimistic mentioned.

I found out why a second later. I dragged myself out of the ground. I tried something else. Did it work? What do you think? No, it did not. Over the course of multiple hours I became a very good acquaintance with the sand.

Finally, I laid there and felt the inflicted bruises on my arms, legs, shoulders, head, and practically everywhere in between. I just wanted snack, not a freakin' training session with the Espada that was getting the Worst Teacher Award a thousand years in the coming.

"Get up fracción," demanded the impassive voice that had driven me around a fake arena.

"No."

"You did not hear me, get up," I made a face.

"I did hear you, but I would rather not."

"You're not done, get up," the Espada bristled back.

"Nope," I raised a hand into the air, "you see, you are mistaken. I _am_ done."

A face intervened into my view of the sky, "Get up."

"Sorry, no can do bossman. I'm beat, literally, metaphorically and everything in between."

His eyes narrowed. What? Never been rejected before? Welcome to the club.

"Get up before I force you to your feet," He commanded again.

"No," today I had the nerve not obey him, a feat in my option, "I am tired and hungry. I'm not doing anything else unless it includes going to the kitchen or to my wonderful bed."

Ulquiorra crunched over my words. A second later, his hand shot down and glued itself to my shoulder. Just as promised he lifted me to my feet. I relaxed my legs so they curved under and incorrectly set themselves on the sand. The Espada let go. My knees bent and down I went. A small cloud of sand poofed right into his frown.

I grinned as his eyebrows drew in and he looked completely miffed, "Get up fracción. I will not tolerate insolence."

"No," he was still an Arrancar, no matter how he acted, he had buttons. I could push them. I had just hit gold. We paused for a minor stare down. Both sides of this truly meaningless affair weren't caving.

"Up," Pointing at me, I could feel his frustration building in the air.

"Woof."

"Up _now_, trash."

"Upgrading me to trash? That's nice. No," The longer this went, I could feel my nerves start to fatten and grow. He had tried-abet failed-to help me with my sword skills. Then there was the matter of the sword.

His face went to ice and he stalked away. Had I, a fracción, really won? The very real sword in my face said otherwise.

"Get up fracción or I will kill you and leave here. Your death will be painful and no one will care. Even if your healing skills bring you back, you will still wander around until you starve. But, if by some miracle, you find your way back, I will make sure you end. You will die again and in any case I look at this course of action I will be rid of this stupidity."

That was just effective as a stolid punch to the face.

My confidence shattered like a glass window, "Fine, fine, fine. I'll get up. Don't get your tail in a knot."

I struggled to my feet, wondering why he was so stubborn all the time, like the world had to be his way. I wanted to step back for a second, couldn't this world go on without me for a bit? l wouldn't even mind to stay on the "Jail" in Monopoly a couple of turns.

I raised my head to see the desert spin away as a certain Espada grasped my jacket. The hallway in front of my "dorm" yawned open to intercept us. I once again fell from my feet and Ulquiorra Schiffer zipped away.

"He didn't even bother to say good night," I grumbled. I became distracted as my stomach spontaneously threw up. Soindo stunk more than this morning's breakfast I decided after a minute.

I dragged myself to bed and slammed the door. I cursed the Cuatro for good measure as I flopped on the bed. Oh yes, a 'Go to Jail' card would be perfect right now.

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><p><strong>Thanks to Nizuna Fujieda &amp; September Sky for reviewing!<strong>

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><p><em>I love this chapter, when I wrote this I thought to myself "This is the chapter that I am going jab at things I don't like." There was no offence meant at people who speak spanish, but when you have names like Ulquiorra Schiffer, Nnoitra Gilga, Aaroniero Arruruerie, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, andor Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez swimming around your head, spelling can be an issue. Also, Ulquiorra gives a poke at one of my pet peeves as well. :)_

_Best of all, Sola goes "Woof", I love that._

_I am running out the door (weekend vacation), so thanks to everybody who reviewed!_

_Review are amazing and people who do them get giant cookies,_

_-Quin_

___Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she disproves of this).___


	8. VIII Concerning Cryptic Matters

**VIII**

**Concerning Cryptic Matters**

My formal request for a 'Go to Jail' card was denied. No, more than denied, it was rejected, torn up and thrown right back in my face. The best part was I hadn't even asked yet. Before I woke up, I knew the answer. Finally, I was learning the trend of Hueco Mundo, "no" was the white sheep in this flock.

The next day, Ulquiorra's meetings avoided being canceled to my relief. I cleaned his room in a peaceful, sore, crabby and generally half sleep manner. Something about getting run around and whacked with a sheath until Starrk yawns takes it out on you. I couldn't imagine why.

I was managed a painfully average job until I slipped on a wet patch of white concrete. It wasn't like I mopped it a second earlier. Slamming into the Espada's desk, I sent a plethora of happily stacked papers screamed into a wet puddle. My luck seemed to have taken another sick day, that meant every day was one. How did I not get one personally? I rolled down the side of the furniture and scrambled to gather the damp pounded pieces of trees.

I placed the papers to dry on the bed, hearing every single rip, plop and tear. It wasn't me. I hadn't made this mess. Some other fracción, somebody with a pinhead brain had done this. The papers smearingly sighed at me.

My mind pinged at my written name as I straighten the leaning tower of pisa. Ulquiorra wrote about me? At the current moment, I was under the impression I was worth less then trash. I oozed over the waterlogged paper. His handwriting was so neat and straight that a puppy could read it if it hadn't disintegrated.

"_To: Lord Aizen"_ I wondered who else he might write to, a girlfriend? I tried to think of the only possible Espada to be his girlfriend. I quickly moved on.

"_Subject: Concerning matters previously stated."_ Why must Ulquiorra be cryptic? Was it in his blood or something? What if Lord Aizen couldn't remember the _"matters previously stated"_? Huh? Then what?

Of course, the first half of the memo thing was illegible. It dropped into legible land mid-sentence: "-_as of the delicately of this matter, I will continue with the course of action that is most logical. With your approval, all will continue as planned." _I wished that the beginning of this paragraph hadn't been sacrificed in the flood.

"_The knowledge that you, the Octave Espada, and I share has not be revealed and will remain so until it becomes truly necessary, as it is your wish." _What was he writing about? This thought was smashed with the intervening of next sentence.

"_The fracción_, _Sola Kiri, remains incompetent;"_ no surprise there,_ "her only good attribute is her reaction time. She is still frankly trash and will remain so unless her condition changes. This, I highly doubt, will happen. She carries a full sword now, as per your orders. She continues-"_the words blurred into a blob of black.

Ulquiorra Schiffer was reporting my condition and actions to _Lord Aizen_. What was going on? I wasn't even important in his plan for world domination. I reread the paragraph a million times until every readable word was recitable. Checking through the other papers, it was only the usual: written insults of being trash, shopping lists, orders, and other boring factors of daily life.

I settled everything into some sort of order. I slugged the rest of the mop water around quickly, I really didn't want to be caught red handed now. A quick death sentence anybody? I thought not.

That night the Espada kidnapped me again. Inconveniently for him, I wasn't hungry. That meant I wasn't wandering the halls. Instead, I was drooling in my bed. Do you think he bothered to knock? Ulquiorra popped straight into my room. There wasn't anything remarkable about the space unless you mentioned that even a spider could feel cramped.

I was asleep. You must realize something. Nothing can wake me, minus loud screaming and/or a good slap in the face. Again, to his shagrin, I was still dreaming of lollipops when he entered. Hanging an inch and a half over my head, he locked onto my shoulder and woke me up. 'Woke me up' was an understatement. I was injected into the real world. Screaming at the face in front of me, I rolled off the bed. Unfortunately, in such a diminutive space there was one place to roll off of and on to.

I bowled into the stomach of Ulquiorra Schiffer and together we crashed to the ground. In a mess of arms, legs, fingers and toes, I landed on his head. A horn stuck into my kidney, there wasn't much else of an explanation. Another Arrancar, the big fat one, stirred next door.

Banging the wall, he shouted, "Knock it off! What is a matter with you idiots?"

'Ulquiorra Schiffer's kidnapping me again' never got the chance to walk into the stratosphere, it would have drawn too much attention anyways. We froze. Luckily, big and fat didn't walk in, because I can imagine what he would have thought of our…pile. A hand jerked for my neck and my bed flashed away.

The desert wind moaned as we invaded it. Ulquiorra ungentlemanly like flung me off and into a dune. Lovely. I took a mouthful of sand as I tried to figure out which way was up. The moon rolled its eyes as I struggled to my feet.

I had about one second to realize his sword stood in position. Pulling my limbs together, I fell into a roll. Bingo! The oh-so-familiar sheath zipped across where I had been. I couldn't help but grin at my own personal triumph.

"Now what trash?"The question completely emptied my mind of any action that I was thinking about doing. I glared up at the Espada. If looks could kill, I would have just melted an ice cube. Really? I just avoided your sheath and now it was pop quiz time?

"Huh?" I replied intelligently. His sheath came down into the sand right next to my ear.

"Think. You're on the ground, how do you suppose you're going to get back up?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Easy, on my two feet."

"No, you just gave your opponent a clear advantage. You're dead the second you fall to the ground unless your enemy happens to trip over his own toes," 1% chance of happening, I was sure.

He allowed me get to my feet, "So what am I supposed to do then? What would you do if someone jumps out at you like that?"

"Simple, sonido."

"Well, I can't do that well."

"Then figure it out," the Espada lunged again. I tried to fix the puzzle multiple different ways. Nothing worked, jumping, dodging, and even running away, all failures. I kept trying to predict where the Arrancar would come at. I was wrong. Every time. I blocked left, he came right. I jumped backwards, he lunged from the back, it became very annoying.

I gave up finally. I stood statue still, hoping that he would get the drift. Ulquiorra attacked anyways. Bracing for impact, the flash came from behind. I guess it was fear or something but I automatically reacted. Raising the sword, I caught the blue sheath in my weapon's grasp. I blocked Ulquiorra's attack. Confetti, cheers and general party goers exploded into my head.

The Espada's face didn't change as he pulled back. I swept my mind clean as he came again. Bang, bang, bang, I stayed on my feet for almost a minute before the sheath swept me to the ground.

"Ha! I did it!" I cried as I pulled my head from a drift.

"You died," the unimpressed reply came from Mr. Doom and Gloom.

I found my sword, "So? I held my own for a minute there, not like ten seconds."

"Yes, that's because you stopped over thinking your actions and started trusting yourself," I smiled, Ulquiorra Schiffer just _complimented_ me, "that will only go so far. Don't think you'll survive a second in a real battle." I crossed out my first thought, tore it up and threw it out a window. He continued to be a still a jerk with no soul.

"Fine, but still!" I attempted to spin my sword in the epic way that he had. No, I wasn't _that_ good. I did manage not to disembowel myself though.

"Again," Uquiorra commanded. I hit the ground again a second later. I sighed into the sand, I could never win.

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><p><strong>Thanks to Rose202 &amp; N0izuna Fujieda for reviewing!<strong>

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><p><em>I really have nothing to say about this, I had to cut a chapter in half so that I would manage to get this up in time. But if you want to blame someone for not getting a longer chapter, blame my best friend, who kept bugging me while I was working on this. Thanks BF! <em>

_My best friend has something to say now: _"Yeah I do. You are falsely accusing someone for your own laziness. Shame on you. Besides today we were having a discussion about favorite Kingdom Hearts characters and your funeral."

_AXEL ALL THE WAY! *sigh*, yep that's my best friend. ANYWAYS, there will not be a chapter next week because my school starts and I am sure all of you understand that._

_I will say I love the metaphor: "If looks could kill, I would have just melted an ice cube."I love twisting things so they go beyond the typical cliche. _

_Reviews get a unhappily forced hug from Ulquiorra. _

_-Quin_

____Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she disproves of this).____

____Friend:____ Why do people always put disclaimers in every chapter? Most people already know that the author doesn't own this otherwise it would not be fanfiction.

_She's invading everything now. Great. _

ROXAS ALL THE WAY! He has two keyblades, Oathkeeper and Oblivion.

_AXEL is awesome and when he cares about you enough not to back stab you he's your best friend. Come on, how much better can you get then sea salt ice cream! He even goes after *spoiler* after he's forgotten everything about their friendship!_

Now we are just repeating our earlier discussion. Well readers if you know what Kingdom Hearts is then you should review saying your favorite character.

_you know, I really highly doubt that, since this is in the Bleach section of fanfiction, possible though. Anything more best friend since this is longer then any of my other author comments?_

You should really post this you know. Also the longer author's note makes up for the shorter chapter word count wise. Haha, you might have 21 chapters now unless you do a super long chapter, Lazy.

_Nah. I am too lazy to do that. _

SEE?

_Like I said, my BEST friend. Enjoy!_


	9. IX The Epic Unknown

**IX**

**The Epic Unknown**

"You want me to do what now?" I asked, standing in his room. The Espada was doing the usual, you guessed it, writing another annoying report. Two and a half weeks in our daily-or should I say nightly-sparing and he was as emotionless as ever. Though, I discovered, there was always something somewhere. By the semi relaxed shoulder, my best guess was he strolled between his variation of patience and "trash".

"I will _repeat_ myself, go buy more tea," Cifer waved his finished paper, "take this and don't do anything idiotic, though the possibility is dangerously high."

I decided not to comment. Snatching the paper, I walk to fill this _delightful _new order. The paper turned out to magically morph into a golden ticket to the World of the Living. After one of Szyeal's fraccións outfitted me with a bracelet look-a-like, I was good to go. Supposedly, it held in my spiritual pressure. Break it and I would set off every single alarm and be quickly dead. Then Lord Aizen would come and kill me again. The fracción didn't mention how.

The garganta coughed me up as I stepped back into the World of the Living. It was raining. Why did it have to go all gloomy on the day that I visited? I lifted my hand to catch a wet drop. The drop vanished through my palm and crashed onto the concrete. Right, no "borrowed" gigai today. Probably not ever since they "didn't exist". It was all too tempting to just wander in and swipe another one.

The lazy, zombie-like street was basically humanless, which was fine by me, they did stupid stuff. I traced my previous steps to the Death God's shop. Once again, here I was shopping for somebody that I hated. Though, maybe, I didn't hate Cifer as much as before. Something to ponder later.

The shop glowered down at me as I hurried to the back door. Who knew where everyone was. I had a better chance if I didn't stroll in the front door with a "_honey, I'm home!_" Probably, it wouldn't roll over very well. Instinctively, my hand grabbed the back door knob and my fingers slid right through it. Non-solid object, I reminded myself, don't forget not of this world either.

The glass tickled as I hopped through, defying any alarm system. The back porch was miserable enough; the mess of boxes and papers were just an added touch. Couldn't any male keep his paperwork straight? I walked through a mountain pile of old bills, it bugged me only because I filed for Zommari, the one exception to the above rule. One sheet out of place, you were fired, I discovered _that_ first hand.

Nobody seemed to be anywhere. Hopefully, I was lucky and everybody was all out for dinner. I forecasted now that they would order another course so they would come home to a non-Arrancar infested house. I still wasn't in the mood for dying, yet.

My feet tapped the floor as I tried not to get lost. The place was a maze, literally, the white doors laughed as I took another wrong turn. I found a bathroom instead of the shop. No tea there. I exited and hoped the opposite turn was correct. I found a bedroom. Magazines, playing cards, and more paper work lounged around on the floor. A magazine called to my attention, why would anyone want a picture of a chesty lady in a swim suit on the front? I stepped forward and promptly fell through the floor.

I forced my trap shut, so my yelp wouldn't escape. The stairs veered up. Falling through them too, I crashed through a pile of boxes and thankfully stopped on the basement floor.  
>My clear body sat up and my eyes met the creepy look of a teddy bear that had spent a year too many in that box. Scrambling back, I hastly exited the storage closet and from the killer look of that stuffed…thing. I cursed my strange ability to fall through objects and rose to my feet.<p>

"Oh wow," I realized my current location. Somehow, I had ended up falling into Urahara Kisuke's personal lab. There was really no mistaking it. Huge banks of computers dwelled on the walls like mutated bats, their faces showing various statistics and maps. Like the rest of the house, papers bred like bunnies, wasting away on the floor.

I was drawn to the light and my hand came close to the screen. It hummingly displayed the town, tiny multicolored dots scattered everywhere. It didn't take a scientist to realize its purpose. All the spots were people with high spiritual pressure. It wasn't like there was a sign above the screen or anything.

Concentrating, I touched the 'zoom in' button. This was verging on the "stupid" thing that Ulquiorra was mentioning. Ah well, this was interesting. Who _didn't_ want to snoop on everybody's life and not get caught? It couldn't get much better than that.

I squinted closer at the glow."Kurosaki, Ichigo" dot was snoozing at home with the "Kon" and "Kurosaki, Isshin" specks. "Shihoin, Yoruichi" dot was out for a midnight stroll. "Inoue, Orihime" and "Yasutora, Sado 'Chad' " spots happened to be shopping in the same shop. Who shops at 4 in the morning? Obviously, Chad and Orihime.

There were oh-so-many other dots and I wasted-ahem-_studied_ them with most of my remaining time. Surprisingly, even an "Arrancar #3.5" dot stood in the lab. The bracelet didn't hold off all of my scent.

I watched the people go about their daily life, or rather, what they did in the early morning hours in the rain. Wandering off, I didn't feel the panic of hurrying anymore. "Kisuke, Urahara" was on the far side of town. His dot didn't mention that it was coming home anytime soon.

Something disturbing sat on a nearby table. A test tube of blood was propped on a folder. In a lab, this was typical, but what wasn't typical was the big "ARRANCAR #3.5" label. I concentrated my energy to my fingers and lifted up the glass tube. The blood looked normal, but then there was no visional difference between Human's, Arrancar's, Soul Reaper's or anything else that breathed. Wet, red, and typically caused by hurt, yeah, it was practically all the same.

The papers in the folder told a different story, a really different story, I learned. I thumbed through the scientist mumbo jumbo and came to something readable. Leaning back, I started collecting all the word's meaning.

"_An Arrancar came to my shop today. Surprisingly, she didn't try to kill me..._"blah-de-blah-de-blah, I skimmed and got to the good stuff.

"_I conducted the typical tests on the blood, then dug deeper with the more specialized tests that I created for the Arrancar. The basic test showed what I thought, only the body's blood came up. Typical form, whoever made this gigai used the shinigami's as a model and reversed the processes. It even had the Soul Society's signature backwards._"

A handwritten table followed the words, numbers and junk that I didn't care about. Notes in red pencil were sprinkled along the side.

"_I proceeded with the Reiastu test just for kicks to see how powerful of an Arrancar Aizen had created. Again, this Arrancar was a kitten compared to what he had under his thumb. I couldn't tell when she was in the shop, something with the gigai. Sadly disappointing, but logical."_

I frowned. I was stronger than a kitten! I could feel my strength was growing bidaily. Skipped the table with the notes, I dug into the next paragraph.

"_Things got interesting. I applied the blood to my Arrancar test. It blew up. Literally, I had to clean the smoke off my face. I tried it again to see if it was a user error. Same result. I tweaked the test for an hour before I was finally able to get results. It didn't match the previous Arrancar's blood. It was different." _

By now, I was in the middle of the table. I kept backing up looking for something solid to lean against. I had forgotten once again that I wasn't a solid object. Oops.

"_The Arrancar's blood, a sample from before, followed the Shinigami's spiritual pressure pattern. Of course, in reverse, like a Visor's, which is understandable. This blood was different; it followed the reverse pattern of a _human_. This makes me conclude that the Arrancar would draw from the personality of a human then the power of a shinigami's."_

The page ended with another table, this one highlighted and scribbled everywhere. The words "abnormal" swam everywhere. Number collided with words and the words with the numbers into a crazied endless circle.

…was I not an Arrancar?

The screen screamed bloody murder and the papers jumped away from my hands. I glanced at the screen. Another "Arrancar" dot danced a couple blocks away and the "Kisuke, Urahara" spot was shunpoing home at an alarming rate.

I looked at the ground for the papers. Useless. There were too many papers to begin with. Scrambling out of the table, I ran for the stairs. Get the tea, get out and don't get caught, I shoved everything out mind…and tried hard not to think about it.

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><p><strong>Thanks to Rose202 and Nizuna Fujieda for reviewing!<strong>

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><p><em>Yay new chap-<em>

Disclaimer: This author doesn't own anything in this story except Sola and the plot. So if you steal Sola or the plot then you are a bad person or animal or whatever. May the guilt of your actions haunt you forever even after you past on.

~ :D

*Quinny would like to say, or she is thinking it anyways, that her slightly crazy friend wrote the disclaimer and the most of this stuff,_ not_ her.*

_My best friend is back if you haven't guessed..._

_I really have nothing to say now, my friend seems to have eaten all of my thoughts, brains, and ambition on this chapter...I do recall that this a dramatic chapter, things happen...but I can't remember what now... so, do you want to finish it up too?_

Fun Fact: Do you know that she stole her FF name from her Bunny? Of course you didn't. _Oh no! My secret is out!_

ALSO in the end, Sola totally dies! _WHAT? Where did that come from?_

Really? I was going to say that she meets the seven dwarfs and goes off to sing with them.

_Hi oh! Hi oh! Off to work we go, dum de dum du-du dum de dum HI HO *ahem* Sorry, BF, Sola can't sing to save her life._

So that's how she dies...btw you can't sing either.

_Thanks, I feel completely supported here. _

'Kay so Review, Story Alert, Favorite, or puke if you thought the story was terrible.

Bye Bye Bye Bye Bye Beware Bye Bye Bye Bye Of Bye Bye Bye The Bye Bye Bye Bye Bye Bye Bye Bye Sequins Bye Bye Bye Bye Bye Bye Bye Bye - top secret message

_...review? please?_


	10. X Insanity and Other Friends

**X**

**Insanity and Other Friends**

"Tea, tea, tea" I chanted. Sprinting down another hall, I dropped the whole "stealth" concept. I _had _to be getting close in this insane maze. In my mind, the computer screen below was yelling at me to mention how panickingly close the shinigami was. Thinking wasn't needed to figure out who the other "Arrancar" was either.

Finally, I reached the store, familiar shelves and merchandise groaned in welcome. I panted as I searched for my final destination. No time for pleasantries, I shoved the entire box of tea under my arm. If there wasn't a month's supply of tea in there, I was just going to be mad.

The dingle of the tiny bell on the front door froze me in my tracks.

I dropped down, hopefully, maybe, I could exit the premises without causing too much distress and confusion. Some part of me highly doubted this, but hey, there was always a chance. Right?

"Hey Arrancar, come on out, there's no reason to hide," the causal voice scared me practically an inch out of my socks, "I _really_ don't want to kill you."

Keeping the box in my hands, I rose a tiny bit from behind the shelf. The shinigami hadn't changed since our last delightful meeting. The only minor difference was the screaming zanpakuto in his hand. It howled that it wanted nothing more than to sink itself into my living flesh. Lovely, I was really looking forward to that one.

"Come on, I'm…" 'an Arrancar' stuck in my throat like gum, "…your enemy. Don't tell me you don't _want_ to kill me. That would just be a very stupid and annoying lie."

The door clicked, he shrugged, "Nah, that's not case. Today you see, you've been snooping in my basement. Did I give you enough time to get the good part of that folder?"

I mulled over bolting for the door, my gut hop scotching, "Maybe you are in shinigami crazy-land or something, but I have no clue about that mumbo-jumbo. Comprende?"

"I am here for tea and that's it," My voice hiked up an octave and a half in one sentence, "Don't make me call back up."

"Stay, there is not fun in you just leaving. We could drink some of that stolen tea and I'll explain a couple things. I even brought donuts." Being a tad distracted, I hadn't noticed the crumpled paper bag in his other hand. He went out for donuts in 4 in the morning?

"I'll pass, thanks for the offer?" I started for the door; he did that frown that could only spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E. He did know that we were enemies? … right?

Uraraha moved right in front of my face and lifted the bag. It _smelled_ tasty, no, more than that, it was cliché delicious. My stomach and tongue ordered me to bite open that bag for the guaranteed goodness inside. My brain knew better.

"It's still a no," I couldn't help the wavering in my tone, it was almost too tempting

"I have both iced _and_ powered, you can't find both kinds done correct these days. It's extremely rare. Stay and let us enjoy the fruits of my labor," His voice was honest enough. I gulped the bucketful of drool back down my throat.

A shinigami was tempting an Arrancar to stick around over a sweet and the best part was that I was buying it. Yes, I admit it. Can you even imagine how Lord Aizen's stuff tasted at for this to be possible?

Don't do anything stupid, I remembered that phrase at the last moment before 'sure' came out.

"Yeah…Thanks for the thought, but, no. I really have to go," I sidestepped the man and went for the door again.

Barely, I dodged the sword. Something from Ulquiorra's_ learn-it-or-don't_ method finally proved itself. Juggling the box of all-important tea, my sword yawned into the open. I had no chance of winning against someone like him. I wasn't looking for a victory at this point, maybe just a "survive" type win.

"Do we have to go this way?" He looked at my blade as his sword retreated to his side, "I can assure you, it doesn't have too." The shopkeeper really wanted to keep me from leaving his shop. Some part of me didn't think he did it so I would buy out all his knee highs. Interrogation must be on the way.

My confused face tipped him off. Of all the people to ask, why ask me, a mere _fracción_ about Lord Aizen's plans? I knew enough to fill a sentence: _"Lord Aizen wanted to defeat the Soul Society." _He really never bothered to explain the who, what, where or when.

"You _do_ know what I am talking about?"

"No idea," I said and it hit me like a stone. It was about _that_. With this in mind, I realized he might try to get more out of me then just a friendly conversation. I didn't like needles.

He leaned on his sword, "You don't know what I am talking about? Did he even mention it?"

"Nope," My nerves screamed and tightened. The feeling of being trapped was getting comfy and it was making me panicky. Could my sonido outrun his shunpo?

"Did you read that report?"

I didn't get to formulate a reply. The shinigami lunged forward and crashed straight into me. There wasn't no chance I could avoid him. I was currently busy, mentally battling myself to not think about the topic of the day.

Dragging struggling me behind him, we skidded across the shop. The door gave a huff of another jingle. Being around the Espada everyday wasn't necessary to know what his spiritual pressure was like. It was sorta like the knife's edge of peaceful before chaos. No, that would be a complement. Fine then, think of a block of ice that doesn't melt, that's Ulquiorra's spiritual pressure.

Anyways, Schiffer's energy eased itself into the shop. I grinned up at shopkeeper with his sword on my collarbone. Somebody was in for trouble now. I held tight to the tea, did he come for the tea or me? Just the tea, I suspected.

The Arrancar padded down the hall and apathetically watched the unfolding scene, "I thought I ordered you not to do idiotic things, fracción. Do any of my words get into your pea -sized brain of yours?"

"You should have seen this one coming," I smirked without slitting my own throat. Why was he here? Didn't he know the Soul Society was unloading several Captain classed shinigami into this world on a _let's-make-Arrancar-BBQ_ mission?

"We met again Espada, it's an honor," The shopkeeper jutted in just as we started another one of our daily spats. They had met before? It shouldn't surprise me, Ulquiorra was here as many times as he wasn't with random missions. He probably did know the shinigami well.

"Just give me the girl, there is no reason for this to go beyond that," The Espada's hands slipped into pockets, "Don't try to run away. Don't try to use her as a shield. I'll just impale the idiot along with you."

He just wanted the tea, typical Ulquiorra. I frowned, I was really a worthless hostage.

"Why doesn't she know about a certain issue? I have an idea what Aizen wants, care to enlighten me?" My cool head on all this new information shattered. I wasn't half human. I couldn't be. I was a fracción of Lord Aizen's army. He wouldn't keep someone as weak as a human in the ranks. Right?

"No."

I didn't even _feel_ human. I would feel different..I guess?

Ulquiorra pointed at the very confused me, "This is Sola Kiri, numbered 81 in the ranks of Lord Aizen's army. Currently, she is a fracción under my digression and lives in the world of Hueco Mundo."

"I sent her on a simple mission, which she has, apparently, failed to accomplish," I cursed my ability to understand Schiffer. Never once did the Espada mention that I was an Arrancar. One things about him was his way not to answer any question.

"Ah, that's not fair, but I would hate to ruin your little game," the sword released its self and I stumbled forward in astonishment. Really? An Arrancar and a Soul Reaper were going to have an idyllic conversation and not break fight just because they could? I hated to wonder what the "little game" was either.

I glanced back, the shopkeeper watched carefully as we exited his shop, "Be careful, Sola Kiri, and enjoy that tea."

The bell called out as Ulquiorra passed under it. I followed and felt a set of papers dig a hole in my sash. _Be careful_.

How in the world was I supposed to "be careful" if I didn't even know what was going on?

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><p><strong>Thanks to Nizuna Fujieda (glad it made your day!), Rose202 &amp; Anonymous<strong>

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><p><em>Note: on a fangirl moment, I changed Ulquiorra's last name, "Cifer" to the more correct "Schiffer"<em>

_Ah yes, a bell is rung, donuts are used as bait, Ulquiorra makes threats and Sola gets manipulated and confused. I love these chapters! Hopefully, it only gets better, in my opinion is does. I could be called prejudice. :) I have such trouble writing Urahara, he's the hardest Bleach character that I have written so far. Ulquiorra is one of the easiest and Aizen being a close runner up. Everybody's different, I guess. _

_If I keep talking I **will** spoil something so I am just going to be quiet,_

_Thanks for reading!_

_-Quin_

_Reviews make my day beyond any belief, I seriously break records...so review?_

____Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she disproves of this).____


	11. XI Promotion Prospect?

**XI**

**Promotion Prospect?**

"I didn't fail you Ulquiorra!" I hollered, the garganta smacked its lips as I chased after the Espada. He quickly took the lead once I cracked open the way to Las Noches. Probably thought I couldn't even manage making it home on my own.

"In what way did you _not _fail the purpose that I gave to you?" The even reply came.

"Look," I shoved the tea in his annoyed face, "this is enough tea to last until you turn to dust. Basically, I fulfilled your order and went way beyond the call of duty."

He glared at the 'offending' object and the castle yawned opened in front of us, "You did something stupid, trash. That, I ordered you not to do, and thus I disapprove."

I shook my head. Never in my lifetime would the Espada be happy with me. 'Happy' was the black plague to him. The white floor took our weight as we came to our destination.

"Take that to the kitchen."

I paused and looked at the box, but I wasn't thinking about the object. Schiffer kept walking down the hall. The 'little game'… my weird skin itched with words.

"…Ulquiorra?" Any other time, I would have been ashamed of how pitifully vulnerable and weak my voice sounded. The Espada sighed. He stopped and looked back.

"Yes?"

"Um…Ulquiorra…" a second before I continued, I rethought this course of action, "Thanks - uh…th-thanks for saving me. You probably saved my hide."

"Your sorry hide, trash," Schiffer turned back and his coat tails waved in salute.

"Right..." I mumbled to myself and felt the weaker patch of skin on my arm. They had been slowly growing in number and size. I walked off with no thought of really delivering the tea. Escaping down another infamous white hallway, I found an abandoned section.

Dumping the box by my feet, I yanked the sheath of papers from the sash of my uniform. The shopkeeper hadn't grabbed me for a shield in the end. As I studied the rolled up papers, I wondered if they were more trouble than they were worth.

Biting my tongue, I popped off the paperclip.

Just in time for Nnorita to waltz by. The papers rammed themselves down my shirt as he realized that he wasn't alone. For the first and only time, I was happy that I wore white. That gave me my much needed second to shuffle.

"Well, well, well, lookie here, it's an itty, bitty, teeny weeny, little fracción. What are _you_ doing in _this_ hallway?" How many times that he brushed those teeth, I had no idea, but today, they passed the purity of the walls. The rest of him gushed with a sickening creep-o vibe. Of all the Espada, I hated this one the most. Why did he have to find me?

"I got distracted by Lord Gin." Lie.

"And got lost." Lie.

"I was trying to find my way back." Lie.

"And because I need to deliver this for Master Ulquiorra," Truth! I felt like I was a fully fledged truthful-and-goodie-two-shoes Arrancar. Not.

"Did you get lost on purpose?" He dripped closer. I swear, He needed to bathe once an hour or figure out how to use all that oil in his hair to light a candle or something.

"Eh? No, I didn't. I really am lost," I gripped the box, making it cut into my stomach. No way were those papers going to pop out and say 'hi' to a certain Espada.

"I could point you in a preferable direction," His finger went to the left and my brain kindly remembered why nobody went this way. I was practically on this Arrancar's front door steps, a really great place to hide when this guy was out murdering things, otherwise…not so much.

"Thanks, but I need to go this way," I hurried in the opposite direction of that finger.

The ceiling suddenly looked seasick. I jumped forward just in time as it collapsed on itself, leaving a void in the room above. Flattening myself against the wall accordingly, I remembered that I always forgot how insane this Espada was until he was all up and personal. The large half-moon of a sword slithered from the ceiling.

"You are crazy!" I loudly voiced my opinion.

The Espada didn't really hear that, "You went the wrong way, girlie."

"No, I didn't. The kitchen is this way, I just remembered," I shouted over the rumble. I turn tailed and ran.

Thankfully, Mr. Crazy-&-Oil didn't follow. I noted to myself to get a map and start thinking about where I was headed. Papers jabbed me in the belly button, and I frowned as the questions started looping through my thoughts. Was I human? Could I be? Why would I be?

I returned the papers to my sash as I passed another Arrancar, hopefully one not so insane. I changed my mind as this fracción stopped and promptly fell into a bow.

"What are you doing?" I stared at the mop of hair that was the top of her head. The only reason that a fracción would bow would be to the higher ups and big cheeses. Even I had to do it, although I forgot enough that I shouldn't have a head on my shoulders.

The Arrancar rose, "What do you mean? I have too, its protocol."

"No, it's not. You're Aaroniero's fracción, right?"

"Yes, that is correct," she even _sounded_ more respectful. I glanced back to make sure the crazed Espada was still being a good boy.

"Then why are you bowing to me? We're roughly equal," The fraccion cracked a banana huge smile.

"Nobody told you? Well, congrats!" Aaroniero's fraccion slapped my shoulder, "you were just promoted to HF of Master Ulquiorra Schiffer, like, ten minutes ago."

She dashed off after I thanked her. Somewhere along the lines, I misheard, there was no way I was a HF, acronym for High Fracción. It was strange enough that I was Schiffer's fracción, being a high-er fracción meant I was basically the personal assistant of the guy. A trusted one. It was a real honor. This meant that I was an Arrancar. Ulquiorra wouldn't hire a human for the job. Right? It knocked any fear from my mind about what I was

If this was all true and I was a HF, that meant I needed to be at the meetings with him, taking notes and doing all that stuff. I looked at the nearest clock. I was already late.

"H-h-hey! Can you do me a favor?" I shouted back down the hall.

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><p>Non-understandable noise crawled from somewhere deep and dark in my throat as I crashed onto my bed. Not only were Ulquiorra's meetings mind-numbing, but I now understood why he looked at everything in disdain. The Espada were <em>idiots<em>.

They sat there and argued for hours over nothing. All Lord Aizen did was slip his tea. He would wait it out and then tell everybody their orders and then they did it. End of story. Most of the time, I sat there and doodled.

This went on all day, "Defeat the Soul Society", "Personal Security" (whatever that was), "Refilling the files", "Las Noches Expansion", and "Meal Planning" meetings mushed together into a mushy mess of mushiness. Ulquiorra did nothing. He only verbally sparred when the conversation was stabbed his way.

I started keeping track of how many times the word 'trash' entered his vocabulary. Lifting the notepad, I checked under the poorly drawn cat, a hundred and four times in eight hours. Impressive, thirteen times an hour.

Papers poked me in the back, reminding me that they were still there. I dragged them out, I wasn't worried about them anymore. Schiffer wouldn't have made me what I was if I wasn't a fully fledged Arrancar. It just wasn't in his nature.

That is was what I thought. Only ten minutes later, I was on the last sheet of rumpled paper with my knees up to my chin. It wasn't true. It just couldn't be.

The paper made a good argument.

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><p><strong>Thanks to Nizuna Fujieda &amp; Rose202 as always for reviewing!<strong>

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><p><em><em><em>Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she disproves of this).<em>__

_First order of business today, I would like to thank Rose202 for betaing this chapter. She deserves a cheer for dealing with the worried, irksome thing, called me. So, HURRAH! If she hadn't stepped in to help, I highly doubt there would be a chapter this week. Also, she gets a sneak peek, which is always fun._

_This is a chapter that really just is the ramp for the next chapter. The next chapter is...important, then the next one is a break and then we reach a climax. Oh yes, I said the "C" word. I won't say more. :) _

_I am wondering, this many seem like a strange question, but what do you think that Sola looks like? Told you, a strange question, but hey, it's worth a try. Never is this story have I write any real description of her, the wonderful little detail of 1st POV. _

_So, what do you think? You've known this Arrancar for eleven chapters, I challenge you!_

_-Quin_


	12. XII Shattered Emotions

**XII**

** Shattered Emotions**

I pulled myself together enough for my training session with the Espada. Ulquiorra couldn't know that I knew about… well, to put it frankly, myself. I pushed on a smile as we hit the desert. Everything had to be normal.

"Okay, Schiffer, ready for me to beat you today?" I forced out my sword. Feeling the muscles working in my arm, my gut satisfied itself by doing back flips.

He dug his sword into the sand and unclipped the sheath. "That is your illusion. It will never happen. Stop being delusional, fracción."

"Come on! It's possible."

I shoved my foot deep into my shoes, I couldn't help but wonder if there was some tiny spot somewhere that Ulquiorra couldn't find me in this dark world.

"You will never surpass me, the only way could be…"No, there is no possible way. Even if I was tied up, unconscious or drugged, my spiritual pressure alone will flatten you. This is child's play."

"Why not use your sword then? 'Cause if this is all 'child's play' it should be easy for you," I had no idea what was coming out of my mouth.

"I will kill you," he pointed at my chest, "Murciélago multiplies my power, even I can't control every inch of it. One slip and there would be a slit throat." At this point, I wasn't sure what I thought about that.

"So there is something that the mighty Ulquiorra Schiffer can't do," I taunted and spun my sword. This time around, I did a pretty good job of looking like I knew what I was doing. Unknown to him was how every muscle felt like steel, of course, now, they couldn't be.

He closed his eyes, "Was that your attempt at a taunt, trash?"

That was the 105th time he had used the word 'trash'. I noted to write it down, if I got the chance. We stared it off as he mulled it over.

"Fine," Ulquiorra's curt response almost scared the remaining hierro off of me, "If an overblown ego is what you have, I will have to pop it for the sake of my own sanity."

I knew he saw my flash of fright as he drew his silver blade from the sand. It hissed as it fell back in the logical place that it was supposed to be.

"Great," my chained smiled returned, "I can't wait to beat you at your own game."

"It won't happen and I will show you why not." The figure shimmered away from my spectrum. Today apparently, he wasn't going to play fair. He knew that I couldn't follow his path. Cheater.

Murciélago jumped from behind, right for my shoulder. My sword clashed as the rest of him appeared practically breathing on my nose. My arm cried at his new strength, he was right. An alien excitement bubbled up and I just didn't care anymore. I wasn't me anymore. I slid to the side, allowing the sword to pass into the sand where I was a millisecond before.

I quickly counterattacked the shimmer again. Schiffer popped up on at my left side. Murciélago zipped through the air. The sword hit gold and nipped into my leg. I jumped away; blood stained my pant and speckled my path. Did it matter? Did anything? A tiny voice asked me as I blocked another attack.

No, it didn't. Panic invaded in like angry ants. I pushed it aside. I wasn't going to let Ulquiorra win that easily.

My foot projected itself forward and he caught it. At a flick of his wrist, I flew across the sand. Rolling away, I dove for my sword. The Espada followed at a slower pace.

"Do you see yet? Do you see, _trash_? There is no way to win. It is futile." My fingers cried in pain as I superglue them tighter to the hilt and my lip cracked and bled. The almost human blood ran across my tongue.

"Nothing is futile, Ulquiorra," I cried and pushed myself to my feet, "stop being so depressing."

We clashed again. This time though, he started getting serious. Picking up the pace, I pushed myself faster. His sword danced right and left, some I dodged, others I didn't. My fake sword caught the swings and kept them from being anywhere that they weren't supposed to be.

Ulquiorra's eyebrows dug together as I barely matched his skill. Something wet dripped to my chin, I didn't want know if it was sweat or not. Murciélago shot forward and I got new bangs. I dropped my guard and lunged at him.

He skittered away and I ended up face in the sand. I rolled over and Ulquiorra's sword dove right where my head was seconds before. I avoided it again and again. Finally, my foot connected with his knee. There was a crack and it gave me enough time to jump to my feet.

It didn't stop him long enough. The opposing sword grappled into my shoulder. Pulling back, I shoved my hilt into the other hand. I attacked and he blocked it. The Espada's other hand slammed into my ribcage. Slowly, his attacks were getting more and more deadly. Did I want that…?

"Enough," Ulquiorra stated.

He flashed away and I jumped aside. I jumped straight into his blade. I heard the fabric rip as it entered my jacket. The end of Murciélago glared at me an inch from my chin. Schiffer's other hand pinned me to his chest.

There it was.

I watched the point shine in the stupid light. Ulquiorra Schiffer got me right in the chest. My breath slowed to the pace of snails and I leaned right up on him. Hopefully, he wouldn't mind too much.

I brought my finger to touch the tip and it bit back, binding its reality to my life. I realized how crummy everything in my life really was.

"Enough of this Sola, this is more than just a vanity trip," Ulquiorra's mouth breathed into my ear, "I cannot and will not kill you."

"You should do it," I replied. Enough of this deception, I really didn't want it.

"No." The Espada drew back and yanked the sword from me. My ripped jacket showed the gaping circular hole in my chest. I shook the hair from my face and my knees wobbled around. The fear of all these events hit my head like a sledgehammer.

Ulquiorra watched in amazement as I crumbled to the ground and cried.

It's okay though, crying was a very human emotion.

What more should I ask of myself?

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><p><strong>Thanks to amaya-tsuki-chan (I like your version of Sola!) &amp; Nizuna Fujieda for reviewing!<strong>

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><p><em>please understand. it is 4:45 AM here. I am asleep. I am also leaving for the weekend so this is the closest possible time to usual. I will make a better author's note when more of my brain is working. <em>

_Thanks to Rose202 for betaing, she is awesome and saw stuff in this chapter that I wouldn't dream of noticing. She made both Sola and Ulquiorra sound like they know what they are saying. Really. It's awesome. Also, at one time I wanted to pull out and delete this chapter completely, thankfully, Rose made me stop._

_*yyyyyyaaaawwwwwnnnnnn*_

_____-Q_____

_____oh yeah. Pretty good chapter eh? Yes? Review!_____

_____Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she disproves of this)._____


	13. XIII Proving the Proof

**XII**

**Proofing the Proof**

I suppose I cried until I collapsed or something, because I woke up lying in my bed drilling a hole in the ceiling. I felt like the ice cream tub after all the creamy goodness was scooped out, empty, useless, and thrown away, AKA pretty awful.

I shook my head and yanked myself into a sitting position. Ulquiorra had even pulled up my covers. Did he feel sorry for me or something? That would be strange for him. Playing around with the sewn edge, I surveyed the nothing that was my little piece of the world.

Something crackled. I looked down at the tiny piece of hierro lying on my covers. I picked it up and carefully set it puzzle piece-like back onto my hand. The stuff was just falling off now. Huh, it didn't feel like my hand anymore. Poking at this strange appendix, another tiny piece fell to the bed.

Okay so maybe I wasn't an Arrancar...what was I? I mused as I calmly peeled more hierro off like dried up paint. My breakdown surely tipped off Ulquiorra that I knew his little secret, or technically, my little secret. No wonder nobody liked me.

I stripped more off, revealing my near-human hand. Now what? What was I supposed to do now? Live on? Pretend I didn't know anything? I didn't want all this stupid drama, my old life was fine, thank you for the offer. I sighed and dragged myself from the bed. My feet took me away and I let the rest of my old life fall behind me.

Doors. I still hated them. The déjà vu was practically dying of laughter in my face. Last time, Ulquiorra called me here because I changed up his tea. This time, I came on my own. I stood in front of the same door, stuck like gum, unable to decide whether to pass or enter. Of course, the door wasn't going to tell me. It happened to be an inanimate object. Inanimate objects weren't commonly known to talk. I scowled at the door, but it didn't give in.

Using my new pink hand, I pushed open his door. The room was empty. I didn't know if I wanted the Espada to be there or not. Sighing, I wandered in anyways. I paused at Ulquiorra Schiffer's desk; another folder was just sitting there.

I knew, reading it was a no-no. If I had learned anything in the past day and a half it was that stuff on paper was bad. Did I ever think about that little detail called common sense? No. I stopped to read. The folder turned out nothing but brainless blabber. A sad little disappointment. Ah well, add it to the list.

"Lookie who's snooping," I dropped the paper back to the table, I knew that annoying voice. Nothing within a mile of the certain Espada was good, healthy, or sanitary.

"What do you want now, _Spoonhead?"_ I jabbed. Using his nickname could end me, but I didn't care, the self-destruct button had malfunctioned once already.

Nnoitra smiled banana size, "I am under orders from Lord Aizen to find you and bring you to him. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

My face was a Picasso mess of despair and dread. Great, Schiffer told him about my little slip up.

My black-haired shepherd hung himself farther in the door way, "It'll even better now, I can tell Lord Aizen that you've snooped around in the Quatro's files. That'll bust his top, he's already mad."

Fear rocked out on a drum set in my brain, but this time I hid it. I couldn't run, he would just chop me up into little pieces, box it up, wrap it, plop a ribbon on top and deliver that to Aizen.

"Okay," I commented. I trailed my fingers over the file, there was nothing more I could do. No paper was going to tell me anything that I didn't know.

I exited the room and I stood in front of the looming Espada, "Anything you want written in your will, little fracción?"

"Nah, just make sure that no real fatty Arrancar gets my bed. It'll break," Nnoitra's hand clamped around my shoulder and marched me down the white halls. I never did like the color white, it made me think of nothingness.

It was starting to eerily remind me of myself.

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><p>Nnoitra knocked on the door as I gawked around at this new place. I knew I had never been in this hall, not that I could usually tell since they were all the same. This time I was sure. We had taken a turning staircase and the paint on the sides did something strange. It crackled slowly from white to gray as we traveled down and now with this door, to black. A black door and hall, that was striking in a place all of white.<p>

Feeling Lord Aizen's glacier-like spiritual pressure, I knew that he was beyond the door. It was suppressed; he didn't want to kill me by forcing me to walk into the same room as him, I supposed. Not that it mattered or anything.

"Please, enter," a voice called. Nnoitra shot a grin and opened the door. My breath ran into my lungs as I saw what was beyond the door.

"Ladies first," I obeyed, my hate for Nnoirta melt away with the wonder of these new surroundings.

Lord Aizen sat in a chair in the middle of a circular room. He held a cup of tea, the steam lazily spiraling up the five story high ceiling. Rows and rows of swords spiraled up the tubular wall, looking like bleached bones against the black walls as the moon tumbled down from the open ceiling. I checked, each sword was different. These were the swords of the Arrancar.

"Welcome Sola," Lord Aizen smiled, "Welcome to the room that I call _Proof of Existence_."

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><p><strong>Thanks to amaya-tsuki-chan, Rose202 &amp; Nizuna Fujieda for reviewing! Also, thank to Chocolate Ham Patties &amp; DemonColours for favoriting <em>Strike Down the Ibis<em> (That's an honor!)**

**Thanks to the _super-duper-awesome_ Rose202 for betaing this.**

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><p><span>Note: I will not have the usual thanks at the end of the next chapter (I'll add all that in chapter XV). Actually, there won't be much of anything, including AN or the disclaimer. No, it's not because I don't have thoughts on this story's climax, trust me, I have plenty, but I want the next chapter to stand on it's own without interruption.

_Oh boy, here we go, Aizen, Sola and Ulquiorra all in the same room. Heads are going to roll! I am sad to see that this story is starting to swing into the homestretch. I love seeing everybody's reactions as this story builds up and runs through it's twists and turns. Please keep faith in me through this next chapter, I know what I'm doing! Hopefully!_

_This is such a short chapter, ah well, as Rose told me "quality over quantity". She has helped so much with making these chapters clearer and to the point. I tend to ramble a bit and get tangled in my own words. She will probably digitally strangle me soon if I don't send her the next chapter to beta/read soon. :)_

_-Quin_

_Please review,_

______Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she disproves of this). This applies to the next chapter as well: "Upgrade to White"______


	14. XIV Upgrade to White

**XIV-Upgrade to White**

This was a very, very, _very_ infamous room. The 'Proof of Existence' was just a fancy schmancy name for it. In all reality, it was a graveyard.

I studied the hundreds of swords that hung above my head. They symbolized all the dead Arrancar. It was, as Lord Aizen called it, his "little thank you". Once you died, there was nothing to pay respects to, so your sword was hung for your service to the cause.

A tiny problem with this thought. Even as nice as this sounded, nobody knew where the room was. Lord Aizen kept it a secret, contradicting his own point. How could you be respected if nobody could find you?

Now, I was in it.

"It's impressive, isn't it?" Lord Aizen asked rhetorically, "to see all my faithful servants that have died for me, will die for me and that, in their own destiny, are dying for me."

Dragging my eyes from above, I noticed the man that had made all of this possible and the Espada standing stock still beside him. Ulquiorra Schiffer was looking as impassive as ever. My mouth went dry; I didn't know what to say.

"I should be thankful for their undying loyalty," he slipped his tea and the waved his hand to the door, "Thank you Nnoitra for finding her, you may go now."

I turned back. I had totally forgotten about him.

The other Espada frowned, "Aww…can't I stay and watch?"

"Not unless you want to join the wall," Lord Aizen serenely nodded to his side. There was a half empty rack at head height, just for the past Espada.

The Quinto Espada growled and left, slamming the door behind him. I wished he hadn't closed it. All the swords made me nervous, like the spirits in them were going to come eat me alive. I shuffled forward, staying out of current sword range. Not that it would make a difference, Lord Aizen could have a sword in my stomach in a millisecond.

"You summoned me, Lord Aizen?" I shoved my unhierroed hand in the folds in my pocket, hopefully this wasn't about that.

"Ah yes, I did," He leaned back further in chair, "I want to know, how are you doing, my little fracción?"

'How are you doing?' How was I supposed to respond to that? Oh no, just fine Lord Aizen, I just realized that I'm not an Arrancar, had a mental breakdown, questioned my loyalty, feeling queasy enough to throw up and so much more, but you know, just fine. Dandy weather, eh?

A smiled creaked across my face, "Oh, just fine, Lord Aizen. If I may ask, how are you today?"

"Perplexed," He settled his chin in his palm, "I am perplexed, Sola."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Staring at my shoes, I did sound sorry. I was sorry. I knew I had some explaining to do. I risked a glance at my real superior. Schiffer face didn't say anything, his eyes; a complete void.

"Ulquiorra here told me that you broke down and cried. Please tell me, what is distressing you so?"

I mentally groaned. Such an easy question to ask, impossibly hard to answer. I studied the seamless floor, I flipped through my options. Lie, tell the truth or avoid the question entirely, since Lord Aizen was the master of lying, he would know if I was trying to slip around the obvious. Same answer for avoiding the question, that only left one course of action. Of course, the one that he wanted.

"I am distressed, Lord Aizen," I looked up sharply and into his eyes, "I _am_ distressed because I have reason to believe that I am not truly an Arrancar."

"What do you believe that you are?"

"I don't know...human?"

None of this surprised him, "Do you believe that?"

I shook my head, half as a commutation and the other half to keep his mind games from getting to me.

"It's true," he off handily remarked, "You are not a true Arrancar nor are you not."

"Am I human then?" I didn't care who this dude was, a straight forward answer was always the best in my book.

"No."

"A hollow?"

"No," From the glint in his eyes, I knew he was just playing with a plaything. Was that all we were to him? A game? Toys? Did the swords on the wall mean nothing to him?

"Not a shinigami, I know that," Frustration was building, I wanted the truth.

"That is correct," The laugh in his eyes did it, I broke.

"WHAT IN WORLD AM I THEN?" I screamed. Ulquiorra took a slight step back before catching himself.

Aizen set his tea on the arm of the chair and leaned forward, "You, Sola, are nothing."

"How can I be nothing? I'm here. I see. I feel. I think. I can't be nothing," I straightened, my anger was like ticked off lightening. I was zapped with it over and over again.

"True, but you see Sola, you are really not anything. You are weakness in a physical form, a broken, imperfect, misfortune."

I wanted to check my ears for earwax, I couldn't have heard correctly, "What?"

"Ulquiorra, would you care to elaborate?"

Schiffer stepped forward and talked over my head as if he was reading a phonebook, "Lord Aizen wanted to test a theory. He realized, when creating an Arrancar, he could shape the powers within. As it was his need, he always pushed the Arrancar to mirror a shinigami as it was necessary for his goal."

I looked as Aizen, he closed his eyes , took another drink of his tea and frowned.

"After his forces were built, he wished to do something different. He created an Arrancar that half mirrored a human, to see if any change in power could benefit him. It turned out that the Arrancar in question did not take on any of the powers of human race, but all the weaknesses: Emotion, feeling, illogical thinking, rashness, etc. This is Arrancar, is you, Sola Kiri."

I drew out my hand, the plain and simple human skin shined in the moonlight, "So I am half human then."

"Correct."

"Why make me a fracción if I'm so weak?"

Aizen cut in before the Espada could respond, "I wanted to see if being around a strong Espada might reawaken some of your hollow powers or human abilities."

"It didn't," I stated numbly.

"No, it didn't and now your parade is over. I am launching my plan of action on the Soul Society, I have no time for insolence or weakness," His voice hardened and he rose, "my cup is empty and so is your time."

"Ulquiorra Schiffer, I release you from all previous orders surrounding this anomaly. I believe you understand what this means."

"Yes," Ulquiorra nodded and bowed. I had a sicken feeling that my death warrant had just been signed.

"Good," the shinigami walked to the door and looked back, straight at me, "Don't swipe your blade. I want to see the blood."

"Yes, my Lord."

The door slid closed.

I turned back to face the Espada. He wasn't there. Ulquiorra flashed into sight and his sword connected with my throat. The ground crashed up to meet me. I tried to swallow. It didn't work.

I flopped over and coughed up a bucket load of blood. Ulquiorra loomed over me, Murciélago gleaming red in his hand. I couldn't help but think of the countless times before he had knocked me to the ground. This time, I suspected, he wasn't going to let me get up.

"Did…Did you ever care?" I croaked.

He blinked and calmly answered, "No. Of course not, trash."

"Should've seen that one coming," The sword positioned itself above my chest. I didn't try to move, it wasn't even worth it.

Ulquiorra lied to me.

I knew that. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made it so quick and painless.

I heard the _slinch_ and then the world quietly faded off into white.

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><p><em>Review please.<em>


	15. XV Automated Breathing

**XV-Automated Breathing**

_Breathing_.

It was breathing that woke me up. I didn't think that could be possible. You breathe constantly to stay alive. It should be, you know, _automatic_. I mulled over this for a second as I held the air in my chest. It threw a hissy fit in my lungs and I let it out. The process started all over again as more air came in. Now it was automatic, of course, after I was awake.

Breathing was stupid.

I clamped on to this thought; I shouldn't _have_ to breathe. I was undead, for goodness sake. The only reason to breathe was to talk and that was because air was just necessary. I wasn't talking. I shouldn't need to breathe.

After a couple experimental breaths, I came to the very scientific conclusion that stopping my circulatory system wasn't possible. I couldn't think of a time when I had to do this stupid internal process. I let this turn of events roll over a couple times. Wait a second. I connected some dots. I needed to breathe, which meant I needed to use my lungs. That meant that blood was moving around and in that case…

I bugged my fingers into moving across my chest to probe this theory. They climbed across my ribs with the stupid rising and falling and came to the most logical place. First, I didn't feel anything. Suddenly, there it was, punched itself out of my chest in a sorta lazy half-hazard rhythm.

A heart.

That woke me up. I threw open the shutters of my eyes and screamed. White killed my eyes as I struggled up to a sitting position, getting tangle up in strange covers. The thing in my chest was going crazy now. I had to escape it. Pushing forward, I fell off the bed and there was even more noise.

My eyes found my arm, there were things sticking in my arms, pinching. More wires sucked at my chest under the shirt. I desperately yanked at the wires, setting off more alarms.

I pulled even harder and a needle came from my skin. There was a needle in my body? What else could be in there? My lungs cried for air as I peeled something off my finger. No, no, no. I needed to get out. How could I do that? I need out of this craziness.

"Woah! Calm down!" A hand clamped onto my shoulder, Ulquiorra had shoved a sword through me with that grip. I jerked away and tried to get to my feet. Flopping back down, the sheets bound my legs.

I glanced behind me and panicked even more. It was that stupid shinigami! The shopkeeper stood above me with one of those worried looks. This must be a dream. Using my hands, I started to drag myself to the door, the electronic beeps following every movement.

"Um…" He navigated himself in front of the door and crouched down to my height, "Everything is fine Sola, just calm down."

I couldn't 'just calm down'. Did he understand anything? I just died by the hands of someone I thought I trusted. Then I wake up with a freaking heart and wires everywhere on my body. What now? Huh? Was I another experiment?

I reared up to give him a good round house punch. Too late did I see the hypodermic needle in his hand. Too late did I think _not_ to punch the guy with the loaded needle. Oops.

The icy mixture of who-knows-what swam into my system and I don't think that my punch ever landed. I wavered there for a second between sleep and panic. The sleep won out and I dropped away into the depths of the black again.

"Sorry about this," came drifting from above, I was too drugged to even think of responding.

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><p><strong>Thanks to Nizuna Fujieda for reviewing chapter XIII! Thank yous go out to DemonColours and Rose202 for reviewing chapter XIV! The cool sesshy13 and Aralorn favorited this story, which is astounding! Thanks! <strong>

**Most importantly, thanks goes out to Rose202, who edited this mess of a chapter. Together we will conquer! **

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><p><em>Well! There we go, Sola dies and now is...back with a heart? Of course! What else could have possibly happened? ;) <em>

_I must say this, I really never wanted to kill Sola but it was in the plot and well, it had to happen for reasons that are just coming into light. Plus, I wanted to make Aizen look just as evil as he really is. Come on! You just have to look at him after he flips sides to see the evil drip off of him. _

_I believe that one of Sola's best quotes are in this chapter: "Breathing was stupid." Maybe I just find it amusing because of the fact that I _have _to breath all the time. Or maybe it's just another one of those oddball things that only she would say. Try telling anybody you know that breathing is stupid and see if they give you a weird look._

_Sorry this chapter is later than usual, it was something on my end that happened. But it's still Friday so it still counts, right?_

_Thank you for reading,_

_-Quin_

_I have a secret wish. _

_I wish that by the end of this story, Strike Down the Ibis would carry the badge of 40 reviews. Do you know that only .12% of the people who have read this story have reviewed? Not that I am not honored by these hits, but I would be over the moon if the above happened. Maybe, so over the moon, that I'll post an extra chapter with Sola and Ulquiorra drabbles in it. Tempting yes?_

______Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she disproves of this).______


	16. XVI The Unstylish Hat

**XVI**

**The Unstylish Hat**

"Where did this girl come from again?" A voice meandered into my lazy train of thoughts. Finally, the world was starting to return back to my brain.

"Don't know, honestly," Another voice gurgled somewhere far, far away.

"Isn't she your cousin? My point is, shouldn't you know?"

"Probably, but think of it this way; Do _you_ know the exact location of all your first, second and third cousins Ichigo?" I settled back in the world of the awake. The second voice was itchingly familiar. Was it Ulquiorra? Was it time to be beat up again? Somehow, this thought felt wrong. I tried to figure out why. It hurt my head to think. That could be an issue.

"Do I even have a third cousin?"

A page complained as it was turned, "Probably."

The conversation paused and I wondered about drifting back into a drug-happy sleep. That concoction was still at home and slipping tea in my system. Twitching a toe, there was time to be lazy, but now, I wanted to know the mess that I was in. I lay still. Maybe these two would help out with this problem.

Right on cue, the first voice came back, "…isn't she a little young to be your cousin?"

"Technically, she's my second cousin twice removed. It just gets complicated from there so I just say she's my cousin. What happened to formalities, eh?" The reply was quicker than normal.

I was this guy's cousin? I didn't realize that a hollow could have a family tree. It wasn't like two hollows could be around each other long enough for reproduction without at least trying to nibble on each other's toes. Nah, they rather went straight for the head.

I had to take a peek at this newfound relative of mine. Cracking an eye open, I studied something very white. It took my brain a second to realize that I was pretty sure this guy wasn't _the ceiling__. _Moving my view a bit, I found the source second voice.

My moan was just audible. _Why_? Why? Oh why couldn't this guy just leave me alone? Had I done anything to hurt him? Well, actually yes, the tea. Stealing goods was pretty harmless though, if it was a limb or something, I would understand. With tea, not so much, just go out and buy another one for goodness sake.

"Looks like she's coming around Urahara, I'll get Dad," Keeping my eyes in slits, the orange hair teen aimed himself for the door.

"Don't bother, I'll take care of her," Urahara waved a hand, "just close the door. She's a bit shy, if I remember correctly."

The teen shrugged and the door carefully closed. I popped my eyes completely open and the rest of the room came into focus. It was one of those plain rooms that gave the same appeal as a stale piece of bread.

"I officially welcome you to the World of the Living. Congrats on making an evolutionary jump," He grinned as I pushed up myself in the bed and rubbed my face. Coffee would have been real nice.

This time around, I gave myself a second to realize how weak I was. Every single muscle screamed and cried at every single movement I made. My stomach and chest were burning hot as well. I quickly calculated how far I could escape. Maybe to the end of the bed, if I was lucky.

"Do you mind telling me how you managed to go from an Arrancar to a full blown human in a matter of a day?" He casually asked. The green hat shading his eyes from the morning sun light that leached through a closed window.

I checked this data to make sure he was right. Skin clung tight across the area were my hollow hole was. That was kinda disturbing. It was hardly necessary to touch the spot. I could hear the mondo beat of the new organ in my ears. I felt normal. What was the difference of having a heart or not?

Looking at the shinigami, I asked the first question that popped up in my mind, "Why do you wear that stupid hat?"

I could have been grinding my vocal cords against sand paper, it stung so much. I sure wasn't going to tell him that. My fingers felt the scar that was growing a mountain range across my neck.

"What?" he took the hat in his hands and dusted off some invisible dust, "You don't like it? I think it's quite stylish."

"It's not."

"That's your opinion, I think it's a wonderful addition to my façade."

"Nope, it's stupid. Who likes that color green anyway?" I jabbed. There was something comforting about getting under someone's skin.

The shinigami placed the hat back where it belonged, "It's a nice green, it reminds me of-"

"-barf." I finished.

"No, it doesn't, it's the color of…" I stopped listening. My brain had hit "instant replay" on my last night as an Arrancar. Aizen's words and the Espada's explanation, they were as sharp as a sword in my mind. Slowly though, Ulquiorra 's face faded away as my last view of that world. I blinked it all away.

"I _died__,"_ I stated flatly. Urahara stopped mid hat rant. I mumbled a better explanation, "L-Lor…no…Aizen ordered Ulquiorra to kill me. He slit my throat," I touched my puckered neck and moved my scarred chest, "and then broke my Chain of Fate. I blacked out…I think-I thought…I died," I finished. It was hard to say it. It was a bit difficult to wrap my mind around those thoughts. Maybe it's because of the fact that I was still alive.

"Huh," the shopkeeper sank back into his chair as I grappled around with this weirdish new reality.

"The funny thing is, I can't even remember it hurting," I watched a line dance in a pattern on a monitor nearby, "everything else was so…clear."

"The Espada you were with earlier, Ulquiorra Schiffer, killed you then?"

"Yeah," I refocused on the shopkeeper, "I think he knew he was going to have to kill me from the start."

He raised an eyebrow. "And he never said anything?"

"Nope," I wondered why I was giving all this information like free popcorn. I was as weak as a fly and who knew? The shinigami could have his friends on their way to take care of some ex-Arrancar business. Might as well spill the beans now.

"Did he give you a reason before…he did it?"

"Putting it lightly, aren't you?" I laughed, it hurt like I had just swallowed a hairball of needles, "Ulquiorra Schiffer killed me after telling me how much of a failure I was."

That sentence stung even more.

"A failure to have special abilities?" Urahara was fascinated. I could care less.

"Yes," I felt the exhaustion of this whole event climbing back onto my shoulders again. All I wanted to do was curl up in a warm ball and snooze.

"Did he point out any?"

I rested my head against the headboard, "Any _what__,_ Urahara?"

"Abilities."

"Oh yeah, he went on about how I was weak, useless, and imperfect. Oh, let's not forget a misfortune. Basically he said that dirt was better than me," I closed my eyes to the world. It was such a great way to leave the world, knowing that you were completely worthless. Just as comforting as a punch to the face.

"For once in his life, Aizen was wrong."

I cracked an eye open, "For a second there, I forgot how cuckoo you are."

"No, not cuckoo, a genius," He waggled a finger near my face.

"Sure. Whatever floats your boat. What's my ability oh genius one?" He frowned at my overuse of sarcasm, but hey, he wasn't the one on the hospital bed.

"You're here, aren't you?"

"Sure," My head was turning all fuzzy with the thought of sleep.

"You just transcended death, while tricking it. If that's not one fancy skill then I don't know what is."

"I suppose you are right," I sighed as my lack of enthusiasm and sleep dragged themselves in my voice.

The shopkeeper studied what had to be mile long bags under my eyes. Tapping his finger a couple times against the chair, he stood.

"I'll let you rest," The shinigami carefully patted my head, and I couldn't help but relax into this very strange human action, "but remember, only myself and Isshin Kurosaki know who you really are. The rest of the world thinks that you are Sola Kiri, a human and my long lost cousin who's gone through some things that she doesn't want to talk about."

His wooden sandals clattered to the door and I shot one more question at him, "Just one more thing, how did you find me?"

I heard the amusement in his voice.

"Ulquiorra Schiffer dropped you off at my doorstep. Even I couldn't refuse an Espada."

The door clicked shut.

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><p><strong>Thanks to sesshy13, RandomFan (your words made me tap dance, literally, I <strong>can** tap dance, I took ten years on dance lessons), metsfan101 and Nizuna Fujieda**

**Also, big round of cheers goes out to my beta Rose202, who always seems to go beyond the act of duty. Even if that means hanging off the edge of a mountain! :)**

* * *

><p><em>I am evil. I have to accept it.<em>

_Here I am, tying up all these loose ends and then BAM I unknot all of them with one sentence. I guess, that's my style. Keeping you all on your toes, that's one of the funnest things I can do with a plot. Any ideas of what Ulquiorra thinks he's doing? I am interested to hear your theories. _

_Second best line from Sola: "Why do you wear that stupid hat?". Seriously, I mentally ask Urahara that all the time, he could have wore an awesome fedora or something...but no...a green and white striped bucket hat. Can't judge someone by their style, I guess? Maybe if I saw the hat in person I would understand the awesomeness of it that I am apparently missing._

_Also on a random note, I learned that it is "National Sarcasm Month". It should probably be renamed, "National Sola Month" but hey, I'm not going to argue. So, go forth and terrorize the world with your sarcasm! And when they get offended just say that October is the month for it. :)_

_Oh my! I didn't realize that my readers would be so kind and generous with reviews. Thank you to all of you even if you didn't review. I love to see this wonderful support. It makes me a very happy writer and makes this story worth all the effort that I put into it. _

_See you next week!_

_-Quin_

_My wish is getting fulfilled but it is not there yet! It would sure be a recognition to me if SDtI got 40 reviews. If this review goal happens, I will post a chapter after this story ends with a couple Sola oneshots, drabbles and things of that sort.__The best part is, if you review with a fan fiction account, I will reply with a quote from the next chapter. You get to know stuff that others won't see for another week. Fun huh?_

_______Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she disproves of this)._______


	17. XVII The Autobiography of Me

**XVII-The Autobiography of Me**

I want to be dramatic and say that I slept straight for a couple days. It felt like it, let me tell you. In all truth, the clock said I'd only slept for eight or so hours. After my conversation, I felt somewhat safer. The shopkeeper was watching my back for some reason. He probably wanted to squeeze information about Aizen out of me.

I woke up to the clatter of dishes, an instant reminder of the wonderful time that I had spent in Las Noches' kitchen.

"Agh …no more dishes please," I muttered and rolled over on my side. Unfortunately, sleepy me forgot the fact that there was still large slash on my chest. The pain was more jarring than any banging alarm clock.

"Oh, watch it there," the hand of the bringer of dirty dishes carefully set me back into original position. I winced as I looked at yet another new person in my life. The scrawny girl's brown hair swung around her face,and I reflected briefly thatshe reminded me a bit of that orange haired boy from earlier. I would have bet my money that she was his sister.

"Um, hi." Human greetings weren't my forte; I was typically yelled at like a sack of potatoes. 'You', 'idiot', 'stupid', 'worthless', 'fool', 'trash', 'ugly', 'douchebag', 'baka', and 'madwoman' were all accepted forms of greetings.

She smiled and carefully smoothed out my covers, "Sorry to wake you up, but you haven't eaten in a while. So I made you some soup, green pea okay?"

"Green pea? Sounds great." _Never heard of it_. I yawned and rearranged myself to rest against the backboard. I had an idea that I was going to be trying a lot of new things. It seemed that Aizen unknowingly forced the Arrancar into a sheltered life.

The girl retrieved a bowl and cup from the floor. The cup was easy, that was tea. The "soup", though, looked like wet sand. In my world, there was only one way that sand got wet. Avoidance was the best option. Besides this, my stomach started complaining at me as to why this human food wasn't in my body.

"Looks yummy." Lie. Strangely, I felt _happier_ as the girl's face lit up. I took the bowl from her. Setting the spoon in the stuff, I made my mind escape to somewhere else. Obviously, distress and confusion had been added to my anthology of human emotion now. The spoon met my tongue. I couldn't describe happiness...it was just, well, _happy_.

I figured out how fast happiness could poof away as I tried not to throw up the mixture on my tongue. It was worst than wet sand. I glanced. The girl watched my every move. There was no way that she wasn't going to see if I spat it back out. I forced another bite.

"Tasty," I mumbled between mouthfuls. She beamed and pulled up a chair. Shoot, I was hoping to dump the food out the window once she left. Silence took its place beside the scrap of the spoon and my hasty gulps. Hopefully she thought that I was starving.

"So, what's your name?" I paused my spoon action at the question. I think I enjoyed silence more than interrogation.

I gulped the green sand down, "Sola, Sola Kiri, frac-_favorite _cousin of Urahara." I shoved another spoonful in fast before I said something really stupid. This new life thing was going to be harder than I thought.

"I'm Yuzu Kurosaki, my Daddy's the one that patched you back up, along with Urahara," Pride for a certain father could be seen from a mile away.

"I'll have to thank him for that," I replied carefully, though I was really wondered which person I should really thank: Urahara, the doctor, or _Ulquiorra._ If the Espada brought me here then there had to be a reason. This time I was pretty sure that it wasn't Aizen related.

"Do you want me to turn on the TV for you? You're lucky, this is the only room that has one, it's because the family always argues over what to watch so we have two," Yuzu pointed at the foreign box that I currently ignored or most possibly, snored at.

My mouth spoken before my mind, "What's a TV?"

Idiot. I was sure every normal human knew what a "tv" was by the sound of it. An Arrancar wouldn't know. I was a human now.

"A television?" The girl tilted her head, "I thought America was filled with televisions."

"A-A-America?" Oh. Of course. I was from America, _someone _just didn't inform me_._

She bit her lip, "I'm sorry, I won't ask any more questions. Father said you might not want to talk about it."

"Oh, no, don't worry," I scrambled to try remember _anything_ about that strange country, "I lived in a part where we don't have televisions."

"Where's that?"

Wishing to bang my head against something hard, I tried to pinpoint any location, "Muh…"

"Montana?" Yuzu offered, I went with it.

"Yes, Montana. No televisions, at all."

"It's because of the mountains right? Kills reception, right?"

I sat up, having fun inventing this place, "Ah, you should see the mountains. They are just so tall, sometimes you can't even see the tops. It's really amazing."

"Wow…" As Yuzu imagined extra tall mountains, I took the opportunity to empty the bowl. I had a feeling that my stomach was the next to go.

"What else is there?"

"…duh…" I was saved by the bell or technically, the knock and swing of a door.

"Ah Sola, look who's awake!" A tall, black haired human with a huge chin swayed into the room. I didn't have to guess this was my doctor, the white coat wasn't a dead giveaway or anything.

The girl, thankfully forgetting Montana, jumped to her feet and captured my empty bowl, "I got her to eat some of my soup. She liked it!"

"That's great," I swear the light that the two people were beaming could light an entire world, "could you do your daddykins a big favor? Ichigo dumped his glass of orange juice all over the floor last night and didn't clean it up. Would you mop up it before it starts sticking to things?"

Yuzu nodded and pranced from the room. She probably was thinking about who she was going to torture next with her soup. My back stiffened as this friend of Urahara's clicked the door closed. He plopped himself into the empty chair and flipped through the papers on his clipboard in an unreadable blur.

"Alrightly, how are you feeling today?" He looked up**, **and I wondered how many cups of coffee he had today.

"Like I just died," the deadpan answer caused a smile. He didn't write that one down.

"Any extraordinary pain?" I hated it when people said things straight from a paper. It was just as fake as fake could be.

I thought about it for a second, "Nah…just where my throat was slit open and where I was stabbed in death. Otherwise, just peachy."

"On a scale on one to ten, one being a minor scrap and ten being about to die, describe your pain."

"About a million, maybe even roughly a billion, it's hard to tell." The cuts stung and ached like old grandmas but I did actually felt better.

"Fair enough, How-" I cut him off.

"How many more doctorly questions do you have to go?"

"About twenty."

"Can we just skip those, the examination, and the doctor act in one fell swoop here? I have a button on deception and this feels like it," I snapped, the lack of sleep and mental confusion/betrayal was starting to get to me.

"What?" He grinned, "But I am your _wonderful _doctor that just so happened to save your life_."_

I swear, he was being really genuine, but I couldn't believe it. Maybe it was because I didn't feel like I could trust a rock without it being thrown at me. Plus, I was too weak to fight for a sway in my future. Luckily, I still had my voice.

"Yeah, I get that, but you're also a friend of Urahara's which means that you are probably a shinigami. Are you going to turn me in, drain me for information or what?" I was straining my voice now, I would either have to stop talking or risk losing it.

"Dunno," he got up and plopped himself onto my bed. I warily slid to the other side.

"Oh come now, I need to look at those perfectly done stitches, I really am your doctor, Sola, the _human."_

That reminded me, no Arrancar, no zanpakuto, and probably no power. I hadn't tried to contact any of my old skills. The human inched closer again and I cracked my eyes shut. Propping my chin up, he poked and prodded at my stitches to his heart's content. I wanted to punch him, but I had to settle at envisioning doing the act.

"Lookin' pretty good," He concluded what must have been an hour later, "I don't have to mention that there is going to be a scar here, right?"

"No," I gave the stark reply. I just wanted him away from my neck, some instinct, hide weakness, flaunt strength, was screaming in my ears.

He withdrew to scribble away and I rolled my neck a couple times for kinks, "Are you done now?"

"Nope," Isshin shook the pencil in my face, "I still have one more spot to check, then I'm out of your face for 24 hours."

"What?" I sounded like I had been poked with a pin and then remembered, "Oh no you don't."

"Sorry," He sounded apologetic, "that chest wound could get infected. Then it's going to be even more painful."

"I don't have an infection, thank you very much. No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No, no, no!"

"Yep."

"No w-" bang. My voice gave out. I gawked around for a couple minutes, until finally I gave in that I wasn't going to be able to argue anymore.

"I guess that's a 'yes', isn't it?" I glared at him. Now I wished I had my sword so I could take out _his _vocal cords.

"How about this," the doctor leaned forward, "you let me do my job and I'll prescribe you some medications so that inflammation will go down. You'll have your voice back by tomorrow, promise. How does that sound?"

I wiggled my tongue around as I thought about it. This whole affair was stupid, but in any scenario, I really needed my voice so I could fight off whatever these crazy people decided to do with me.

I nodded and resorted to glaring at him as menacingly as possible. It didn't even faze him. It was worth a try.

"Honestly, they were going to give out anyways. I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier." That made me mad. He just talked me into a hole.

The doctor went sprawling across the floor at the unexpected punch to the oversized chin.

Oops. I guess actions _could _speak louder than words_._

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><p><strong><em>A big old "thanks" goes out to Nizuna Fujieda and Vheeri The Succubus for reviewing. Animefreakv23 the beast, AizheNi, and Vheeri The Succubus all favorited this story, that is awesome!<em>**

**_Also, Rose202 betad this chapter and once again, found stuff that I couldn't even see. She also is awesomely supportive, which makes me feel like I _**_can** write something worth while. **_

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><p><em>Do you know how easy it would be to find me? <em>

_Crazy easy. _

_I would be the person with the huge backpack with old, ink covered _chapters _of Strike Down the Ibis falling out of every pocket. I find these things _everywhere_. By my bedside, under my bed, hanging out with random dustbunnies, on my desk, hiding in my sheet music, in the living room, lurking in jeans pockets, crushed under textbooks, stashed in textbooks, in my printer, stuffed in notebooks, written out on the margins of homework, I could go on for hours. I am infested with Strike Down the Ibis. There is such an overabundance of these old copies, that today I used a old copy of "Shattered Emotions" to sop up some spilled tea. I loved that chapter too..._

_Another thing that amazed me, I ran Sola through that online Mary-sue test for fun. She scored a 9. A NINE. I never thought that was possible for a character unless he/she was a rock. Funny thing was, I tested Sola before I started working with her and she scored a 27. Evolution is amazing thing, even for someone who just lives in my head._

_I can't believe that we're on chapter 17, this story has just flown by. There is only a month and a week left...how sad it that?_

_Thank you for reading!_

_-Quin_

_Review for awesome quote of what happens when Sola...does what? Review and I'll give you a hint. _

_______Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she still hates this and is plotting her vengeance, which has something to do with Urahara, tea, and a car)._______


	18. XVIII The Grey

**XVIII**

**The Grey**

It took a week before the "doc" certified me healed enough to leave his annoying care. I spent that time being lazy and abstractily restricted to my room. The first part was great, the second part, not so much. Nobody said: "don't leave your room" but I took the million silent comings and goings as an engraved invitation not to. Technically, I was "the enemy". It gave me a ton of time to sort things out.

Aizen was a jerk. He tossed me out like trash, but unlike being labeled trash, I took offense. It took a bit to realize it, but the guy had never done anything for me that had turned out great for me and badly for him. He blinded the Arrancar with his head honchoness of being godly. He was no god. He wasn't even a shinigami anymore.

Why Ulquiorra did what he did for me was a mystery. I would never know the answer either. I was never going to see him again. I was human and he remained Arrancar.

Don't get me wrong, he still stabbed me willingly with a sword.

I started writing soon after that. Compiling everything I knew about Aizen and his plan didn't take every long. I didn't know much. Every scrawny line of text reminded me of Ulquiorra's obsessive writing. All that seemed so far away. Betraying Aizen was easy, but somehow, turning that Espada's world upside down...hurt.

My five sheets said everything: floor plans, weaknesses, a secret entrance, the Espada, their numbering, and even the basic schedule of the day. The sheets shook with information as I held them. With this, the Winter War wouldn't even be much for the record books. There was an issue. I couldn't admit it back then, but slowly I got a tiny bit of respect for Ulquiorra because of his training and persistence. My skill improved. I owed him that much.

Logic chased me around in circles. I waited till the last second to make a decision. My door was knocked on for the fourth time as I threw the papers out the window. The gutter grabbed the white sheets and colored them gray, then a car ran over them, spewing mush everywhere. I wasn't sure how to feel.

I watched the stratus clouds. Huh. Loyalty _could_ transcend death. Wait hold it a second, me? Loyal? Nah, I just didn't want him to come kill me again.

"Sola?" I turned to see Urahara in the doorway, "Are you coming?"

"Where to?"

"Home, of course!" His smile grew big, "Don't tell me you have enough money to rent an apartment."

I was cynical, "…And why would you do that?"

"Would you rather be out on the street instead?"

"No."

"Then come on," The shinigami swooped in and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, "I even got you an interview at a coffee shop in two hours. We've got to get you cleaned up!"

"What's an interview?"

"A lifetime supply of potential!" He waved his hand in front of us.

"Oh, _that_."

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><p>"So, eh…Sola Kiri, what would make you a unique, important asset to our team?" The human pencil asked again.<p>

"I would be a great asset to your staff because I am a diligent and hard worker who is great with people," I recited to her face. I smiled and twitched my foot in my new annoying shoe. Don't even get me started on the dress.

Ms. Lipstick frowned, "That's what everybody says and look what I have, a newly fired employee. What makes you _special_?"

I come from a long line of killing, bloodthirsty, insane people who have no souls and are dead.

That's what I wanted to say, anyways.

"I have been working for people my whole life and eh, I'm good at…cleaning things?" came the gracefully intelligent reply.

"Ah. I see. Why did you leave your last position at…_'Las Foches'_?" She looked at my fake resume and I blinked at the similarity of words. Somewhere, Urahara was laughing that stupid hat off. Scratched at the scarf around my neck, I tried to think of something.

"I left…" I tried to remember, I couldn't, that's because it never happened. This was stupid. "I quit actually."

"_Oh_? And why was that?"

I was flying here by the seat of my pants, "Yeah, I quit because I…moved here. I wanted to be closer to my cousin."

A perfectly plucked into oblivion eyebrow raised itself, "You moved across 1/3rd of the planet to be with your cousin? That's commitment."

"Yes," I forgot about that I was from America, oops. I needed to read _The History Of Me_ more often.

"Impressive… Say, how do you make coffee?" She shot at me like a bullet.

I tried to keep my eye from crossing, "…with coffee beans?"

"How about Espresso?"

"Espresso beans?"

"A Chi latte?"

"Milk and chi?" Did I know what chi was? No.

"Iced tea?"

"Tea plus ice and…stuff?"

"Fine," Slapping the clipboard to the desk, she pointed at a dotted line, "Sign here."

I looked at Ms. Lipstick, this wasn't a negation. I printed my name and shoved the paper right back at her.

"You're hired. Be here tomorrow at 5:30 AM," She read my scrawl.

I almost jumped from the chair in enthusiasm, "You mean that I'm good enough to be hired?"

"No. I'm sick of looking," She rose and I wilted, "Do I even want to ask why there is '#81' after your name?"

Old habits die hard.

"No, you don't."

"5:30 AM. Don't be late."

I smiled again, I had successful become human…ish.

Now, I just had to figure out to make coffee, espresso, chi lattes, and iced teas.

It couldn't be that hard, right?

* * *

><p>"Sola! The coffee! Now!" My coffee partner screamed in my direction. Fumbling around with the pot, I dumped the black mixture into cups and with a flick of a wrist added cream. The cups of caffeinated goodness flew to the counter.<p>

I pushed the pot back to the heater and moved to start on some order of tea.

A month.

That's all it took for my former life to seem like a misty dream. 30 days. My hand hovered over the glass containers, I felt completely human and I was lovin' it. I snatched the earl grey. Why Urahara saved me, I had no idea. He never asked me about anything relating to my old life.

"Here or to go?" I called from the back. Living with the shinigami turned out to be easier than I thought, I picked up a few things around the house and in return I stayed under his protection. Well, that part was easy, the constant jokes and various madhouse types of living were a bit more difficult. Aizen strangely, hadn't made his move yet, freeing me from completely taking a side.

"Here," Came the reply.

I shoved the tea in a mug and it sputtered under the hot water. I still didn't understand my heart. I guessed that some things just took time. I took the tea and plopped it down. I didn't even bother to look at the shop long line.

I checked the register and went to make an espresso. Yes, my life had died, but a great one had rose from the ashes.

"I did not order this," the served customer commented.

"Oh yeah?" I turned, the machine spitting espresso under me, "What…oh."

I froze. Millions of different curses ran through my head.

"I'll...I'll make you a different tea here- _agh_-um, sir."

I retreated to the back and grabbed the black rose tea. Good bye went my lazy days.

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><p><strong>Thanks to Nizuna Fujieda &amp; metsfan101 for reviewing! The cool The Sin Is Red favorited this story, thank you! In other news, Vheeri The Succubus favorited <em>me<em> which is, in my books, a huge recognition. Thank you!**

**As always, thanks to Rose202 for all the hard work and effort that she puts into making sure that I don't do silly things. You're awesome!**

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><p><em>Boy, alot has happened in this chapter. Sola gets used to human life and finds out how to make coffee. But most importantly, guess who's back? What in the world could he want now? Theories! I'm interested to hear what you think going to go down in the next chapter. <em>

_Also, in fun news, Sola has broken out of this story and make a cameo in another story. It's _that _cool? "Speedy Things Go In (.net/s/7452023/1/Speedy_Thing_Goes_In)" by Vheeri The Succubus is a very good fanfiction with another well done, spunky OC that I have been watching for quite a few weeks. It's great to see this sort of stuff and I was grinning/laughing the whole time I was reading it. Just for reference, Sola appears in the newest chapter, which is chapter 13. _

_I have a poll up on my profile about this story, I would really love it if you would vote. I am interested for the results._

_-Quin_

_My wish is close to coming true! We are seven reviews away from SDtI having forty of them. It would blow my mind if this would happen. _

________Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she is still plotting her revenge, but I have a feeling it's going to come into effect soon).________


	19. XIX The Truth Tends to Lie

**XIX**

**Truth Tends to Lie**

"So…uh…what's up?" I started the conversation with Ulquiorra. A quick excuse that my _other_ cousin was in town and I was quickly freed to find gigia-ed Espada in the very back of the busy coffee shop. I shoved myself into the chair opposite him and tried very hard to pretend this was normal.

"'What's up'? How _human_ of you," Ulquiorra shot back. Clearly, nothing is 'up'. How could it be possible for something to be 'up'? There is nothing in the air that could possibly be so. Why talk with such stupid, illogical phrases?" He hadn't changed.

"Fine. Why are you here?"

"To see if you survived or not."

I sat back in the chair, "That should be obvious. Would you mind explaining to me what happened that night?"

"You died," a ghost of a smile appeared, "and yet, you lived."

"Okay. I discovered that, but _how_?"

"First tell me, what are Urahara and the shinigami doing in terms of defense." The world became clear all of a sudden.

"Ohhh…. I get it now! You saved me so I could spill the beans on them? Was this in Aizen's big plan too?" I demanded a bit harshly, if he was going to skip pleasantries so was I.

"No, Lord Aizen thinks you are dead," He said dismissively.

"Lie."

"Truth."

"Lie."

"Think of this way: If _Lord_ Aizen knew you were alive, do you think that he would risk you telling about his plan? Think about it, trash. You would be dead, completely and utterly."

I frowned; he had a point. "Fine. Maybe you are right but, I'm not saying anything until I know what happened to me."

"You died as an Arrancar," he swirled the tea bag in the glass.

"I got that."

"Your sword hangs with the others now." Couldn't he just get to the point?

"I know that and I also think that you know why I'm still here. Tell me or else I won't tell you anything," I couldn't tell him anything. I knew zilch.

"I could kill you again instead."

"You won't, we both know that. Stop stalling Ulquiorra, it's not in your character."

His eyes narrowed, "You know nothing about me."

"True, but I know nothing about myself either," I wondered what others thought of this strange conversation.

"I slit your throat and severed your Chain of Fate. You collapsed and bled to death on the floor," Ulquiorra gave up that utterly useless, yet disturbing, data.

"Yeah, I figured that one out on my own."

"After you died, I waited for your body to dissipate, the true proof of death. Instead, your hollow fragment fell off and your hollow hole sealed. A new Chain of Fate was created and it was attached itself to the World of the Living. I simply dropped your body in a logical location," Ulquiorra slipped his tea and I blinked.

"You what?"

Ulquiorra sighed and talked in English, "You died and was reborn as a human. I dumped you in the World of the Living."

"Oh," I guessed it was some secret post-death scientist test or something. Nope, I did it on my own.

Ulquiorra drank more of his tea, "I am surprised that Szyeal didn't think of that result. His reports practically said that you were a human 'wearing an Arrancar shell'. I suppose not everybody can be right all the time."

"I was a shell?" My brain was slowly starting to overload. 'Error! Error!' signs mentally popped up everywhere.

He placed his tea down with a click, jerking me back into reality, "It does not matter. Now, what about the shinigami defenses?"

"I know nothing. Just that the orange haired guy is getting really powerful," I knew that little comment on its own wasn't enough to send the entire Espada after Ichigo.

"Ichigo Kurosaki? Correct?"

"Yeah." Hold it a second, why did this feel wrong?

"How powerful do you think he will become?"

"I don't know, I don't see him that much," I grumbled. I tried to keep away from any shinigami. I wasn't just going to ruin this life.

"Become an ally of his, a trusted friend, get into his life," The Espada ordered and took another drink. I frowned at this turn of events. I wasn't going back to take orders.

"And _why_ would I do that, Ulquiorra?" I looked at him straight in the eyes. Respect, I may have had, but trust was never in the picture.

"Lord Aizen is interested in him. You must seek out his strengths and weaknesses. He may yet become the key to this Winter War. If this is true, then it is necessary for our success."

Well, that pushes this conversation over the edge.

Keeping my voice as level as possible, I asked a couple causal questions, "_'Our'_? You mean as in _'us'_? As in _'we'_? You mean as in _'Las Noches'_?"

He remained quiet, undisturbed.

"Huh? What about that? If you hadn't noticed, I moved out of there. If you can't see, I happen to be _human_. And most importantly, if you missed the memo, let me re-inform you, I am no longer your _fraccion_, nor am I associated with you."

"Think," Ulquiorra replied, "The shinigami will find you and to whom will you come crying back to for protection? Do not burn your bridges. This information is needed, if not for the Espada's success, then, for the Espada's _survival. _Let me remind you, you owe your breathing life to these people."

He spun the tea bag, "…the ones who aid those in need, typically in turn, look fondly on past errors."

To back on the side with a powerful figure like Aizen and to be his good graces…I could feel his mind games. I could feel the cage. The bars. My freedom, slipping straight though my fingers. Shaking my head, I shoved out of the chair.

"Oh no you don't! No. _No. No!_" I shook a finger at him; "You aren't doing this. You can't. I won't let you. You're a liar, Ulquiorra Schiffer, and you just manipulate and _manipulate_ and _manipulate_ until there is nothing left."

My words were scaring myself. I had never gone this far in any argument. I talked back, yes, but never this seriously. Even my sarcasm didn't dip into this realm.

I tried to cool down; I couldn't make a scene, "Look. I don't _need_ you anymore. Please, just leave and don't come back." Something was coming in my eyes, it was getting harder to see.

He watched me carefully as I pointed to the door, "I've done something. I've made something for myself. A life. And guess what? I am _happy_. I will defend that," I could see the tiny eruption of shock in his eyes.

"You won't destroy this. I've even made _friends_. Do you know what friends do? I've learned that don't kill each other at a _whim_ of a mad man. Now leave."

The Espada sipped from the cup. I knew him. He was just blocking out my words, "I need more information than that, and you owe me for your life."

"I owe a dead, _soulless_ person nothing." I hissed. Bingo, that got him. He sharply set down the cup.

"Don't make this mistake here, Sola. We can still fix this," He was barely keeping his composure.

"LEAVE!" I finally screamed. Everybody in the coffee shop looked at our little piece of paradise.

The Espada stood and glared straight down into my eyes. My anger shriveled and died.

"_Remember_ all that I have done for you. _Remember_ what price you will pay. _Remember_ the price that I must pay. And remember this, this most, Sola Kiri, the _human_. If my eyes see you again, I will kill you and that time," he picked up the cup of tea and lifted it to my eyesight, "there will be nothing left."

The teacup shattered, its contents gushing onto the floor. The Espada went to the door and glanced back.

I couldn't even help myself, I screamed at the top of my lungs, "I _hate you_! I hate you Ulquiorra! I hope you die in some hole!"

The door jingled shut.

I shook and stumbled back into the chair. I didn't make it to seat, instead crashing to the ground. The tea carefully painted my face as my tears joined it a second later.

Stupid Espada.

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><p><strong>Thanks to Aralorn, Nizuna Fujieda &amp; Rose202 for reviewing this chapter. It really means alot. Plus, thanks again to Rose202 for betaing this.<strong>

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><p><em>Wow, I am really at a loss for words at this chapter. Plus, I already lost my entire author's note once already by closing the window. So...where was I? Ah yes, I pulled a Tite Kubo on this one and the big inspiration for this chapter was a song called "Infra 5" by Max Richter. Dramatic, sad, and quite beautiful, if you read this and listen to that, you may hear some similarities, especially 3:30-4:20 during the song and the end of this chapter.<em>

_Sadly, this ends the relationship between Sola and Ulquiorra. It's hurts for me to see it just explode, but how else could it have ended? Really?_

_Also, I seem to be obsessed with tea in this chapter. There is a reason! Can you figure out why? (hint: think bigger than this chapter, what could it symbolize?)_

_I probably just gave it away..._

_See you next week, only two more weeks left._

_-Quin_

_________Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she decide to not to bother arguing anymore and is now taking human legal actions)._________

We are so close to my review goal! Only four reviews away. Do you think that you could help out? Because no matter how cliche it sounds, there is no _me_ without _you_, my reader.


	20. XX The Black

**XX**

**The Black**

I didn't even bother finishing my shift. Quickly, I fled the shop. That was the last string connecting any of my loyalty to Las Noches. Why had I thought that Ulquiorra really cared? Ha. What an illusion. I ran the distance that I had walked earlier that morning. This time I wasn't humming that catchy little tune from the radio.

Using my key, I allowed myself over the threshold of the shinigami's house and practically ran over the little red head.

"Where's Urahara?" I demanded, not even caring if Jinta was currently seeing stars.

He shook his head, "What was that for? He's somewhere in the house, he's got a meeting in fifteen minutes."

That was a good enough answer. I navigated the hallways until I came to that room that I had eavesdropped in before. Tearing up the rug, the trap door grinned up at me. Literally, somebody had painted a face on it.

As I pounded down the stairs, I thought of all this that I had thought anything good of that Espada. Now, it was over and every one of those memories felt like a wet slap in the face. What a bad joke. What a disappointment. I had been on the verge of getting over him killing me. _That_ was orders. This was not.

Urahara was sprawled out in a chair, a donut half in, half out of his mouth. He also looked like he had been mostly asleep until I started tromping down the stairs.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at work?" Urahara spat out what was left of the donut.

I shook my head and walked straight past him to his desk. There it was, a permanent marker. Holding it in my hand, I looked at it carefully. Yes, this is what I wanted. There was nothing for me in Hueco Munco. I probably couldn't even think of going back there without getting killed. That was the truth.

Striding to the open wall, the marker screamed with my handwriting. I wasn't going to go with this stupidity anymore. It seemed that Ulquiorra had picked my side for me.

The words were black and bold as I stood back to look at my work.

Turning back, I looked at the man, "Listen well, _shinigami_, and here this."

I fell to my knees for the thousandth and probably last time. Usually I opened garganta against my will, sometimes for myself but mostly just out of plain obligation. This time my purpose was completely different.

_"My right hand is the stone that bridges worlds."_

I winced as I called on the shadow that was once my power. I knew somewhere inside of me, there was still enough to do this.

_"My left hand is the blade that binds reality."_

The tingle came and with it, I could feel my new human body stretch to its limits, "_The black-haired shepherd is hung from a chair."_

I lifted my hands up, feeling the multitudes of tiny cuts on my fingers "_Stratus clouds come_."

_"And I strike down the ibis."_

The world obeyed my command. The garganta moaned and crackled open. Through its mouth, there dimly sat Las Noches.

I pointed a bloody finger inside, "Aizen is there. Also there lie the Espada. Everything is there. I want you to destroy it, fry it, burn it, I don't care."

Urahara picked his way from his chair and looked carefully inside, "that's quite a chant."

"Did you hear me?"

"Honestly, I can't help you." I frowned. "One person is not enough to take down all the bad guys, you know that."

"You can try!" I didn't want to stand to think that Hollow was still breathing and living his miserable life.

"True, but I won't get very far. Look, I have people and I know that they are going to want to go to Las Noches very soon. Give them time, let them get strong enough and I believe that they will be able to do it."

He smiled and looked at me, "Thank you Sola. In the past I have tried to open the garganta and it always failed. Now I should be able too."

I turned to the stairs, stupid emotions still flying through my veins, "Yeah, I knew that."

"You've done quite a bit."

"Just make sure that Ulquiorra Cifer is destroyed, that's all I ask," The words crawled my lips and with that, I left to return to the rest of my human life.

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><p><strong>Thanks to Shattered Darknesss, AizheNi, Nizuna Fujieda, and Rose202 for reviewing. That makes forty reviews! That is crazy, thank you everybody! Also, Shattered Darknesss favorited <em>Strike Down the Ibis. <em>Thank you.**

**As always, thanks to Rose202 for editing this chapter, you should all thank her for making this readable!**

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><p><em>And now everything has come full circle finally. Sola has completely cut ties with her old life.<em>

_ Now I can truly explain the title of this fanfiction. It's called "Strike Down the Ibis" for two reasons. Obviously, Sola gives the chant to Urahara, so he can use it to open the way for Ichigo and company. The other reason is probably something that would be a bit harder to spot. I don't know if I mentioned it anywhere, but Sola's release would have been "themed" after an ibis. Therefore, Ulquiorra quite literally "struck down the ibis"._

_To answer last week's question. Tea is the relationship between Ulquiorra and Sola. Go back and read a couple chapters, you'll see what I mean. When anything important happens between the two of them, there is always tea. Even Aizen says, right before he orders Ulquiorra to kill Sola, "My cup is empty and so is your time." Ever wondered why?_

_Not much to say this week. Mostly shocked that next week is the end._

_Thank you for all your wonderful words,_

_-Quin_

__________Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is my own creation, therefore copyrighted to me (she is still in the process of suing me).__________


	21. XXI Every Start Has An End

**XXI**

**Every Start Has An End**

_"I don't get something," I complained at the back of the writing Espada, "you don't care about anything, and when I say anything, I mean it. People, life, death, orders, all that sort of stuff. Then why do you have such a passion for tea?"_

_"You have a pathetically small brain. It simply is not capable of thinking through such complex thoughts."_

_I raised an eyebrow. That was always the answer to all questions: 'You are not able of understanding. No, it isn't possible, don't be an idiot' or even the best one, saved for the most annoyed of times; 'trash'. The teapot reflected my face right back at me from my hands._

_"Yeah? Okay. If I have such a small brain, then why doesn't it just short circuit right now so I'd drop this tea pot on the floor? Or maybe even better, it would be more likely to decide to leave and never come back?"_

_"Don't be an idiot," came one of Ulquiorra's most favored responses. I envisioned sticking my tongue out at him, too bad I was a tad too old for that one. He sat back and re-read his just finished report._

_"Give me a reason to continue to work for you that doesn't end up in me dying."_

_Ulquiorra sighed, "you would have to go live out in the endless desert of Hueco Mundo."_

_"That doesn't sound too bad," I replied, my grin growing. Porcelain crashing to the floor would have been nice, but it was hard to clean up. "Hey! You didn't answer my question. Why tea?" Give it to the master of elusiveness to avoid my question._

_Carefully, Ulquiorra made his newly finished report into a perfectly folded rectangle, "Hollows, Arrancars, the Espada, the fracción. They have no hearts, no life principle, no soul. I cannot feel passion."_

_"Now that's stupid, I think, even if we can't feel, we can think that we can. Sometimes, I can almost remember what it was like, you know, before, and then I act on it. That's the closest we can get. I know that I feel annoyed at you. It doesn't mean that I truly am. It's just the illusion of the idea," I sounded smarter than normal. Did someone slip something into my food or something? _

_"You admit it, you, therefore, can feel." He mused, took the paper between his two fingers and lifted it into the air._

_Setting the tea pot next to the old one, I caught his attention, "Do you hate me?"_

_"An irrelevant question," he paused studying the paper._

_"Come on, don't lie. I drive you nuts almost on a daily bases and you are being forced to train me. I know you hate that. Just admit it and let's clear the air," he frowned._

_"'Hate' is a strong and broadly used word, 'detest' is perhaps more accurate," For the first time, I think that Ulquiorra was humoring me. I could hear all the history books being rewritten._

_"There. A feeling. You feel detest towards me. I would say that's mutual."_

_He slid back the chair and rose, "I said that Arrancar cannot feel. Deliver this to Grimmjow, it is the reply to his request for boom boxes."_

_Ulquiorra Schiffer brushed past and dumped the letter in my hands. I could only imagine the big fat 'no' inside._

_"What is that supposed to mean?" I replied at his back._

_"Idiot fracción," was the response I got as he shimmered away._

_"Stupid Espada."_

"Stupid Espada," I told the cup of tea as I set my chin on the counter. I highly doubt the tea or anybody in the coffee shop knew what I was talking about. Nor, probably, did anybody care at 11:30 at night.

Why did I care? He didn't. Yet, here I was, waiting for closing time and once again the Espada slithered into my thoughts. It didn't even matter. The winter war had been done over for 32 days. According to my information, all the Espada died roughly a day before that, meaning for 33 days, the Quarto had been dead.

It was annoying and stupid. I wanted him dead, and now presto! my wish was granted. I practically gave Urahara the key to the lock that opened up the world of Hueco Mundo. I wanted it. I wanted him dead.

I had squeezed through a rock and a hard place, I should be enjoying the rewards. Nope, I couldn't.

I checked the cardboard tube in the dark corner behind the counter. It hadn't grown legs and walked off. Darn, I wished it had. Yawning, I set my forehead against the cool counter. I was going to do the thing that no employee was supposed to do on the job. That would be to fall sleep. The zzzs over took me and the familiar annoying dream caught me in its grasp.

_Running through the halls of Hueco Mundo wasn't the greatest thing to do most of the time. There were always rampaging Espada and other Arrancars in a hurry. Between the two, you had a 100% chance of crashing into one of them. The rampaging Espada will tear you apart and the other Arrancar might just do the same. It was better to walk._

_Even in my dream, this unspoken rule still applied. Navigating through halls, I managed to retrace my steps though the semi-white walls. Why semi white? Because every couple feet, blood had been splashed onto the walls or it had caved into the other room. This really wasn't the time for redecorating._

_I wandered down another hall. The halls grayed and I ran my fingers on it slowly as I descended. Nnoitra would never drag me through here again. The walls crackled to black. This time around, I could really admire the change in scenery. Aizen always had a sense for the dramatic. Nobody would dare to say it. Paint an entire place white and then just have one room black, impressive._

_It took a shove and a kick but the door complained open. The floor was clean of my leavings and I couldn't help but think of my dying moments as an Arrancar. I wasn't here for that. Glancing up, I looked at all of the hundreds of swords that were somewhere above my head. I wasn't here for that either. Walking around to the chair, I went to the separated wall._

_There they were, all neatly lined up, like an ironic display case._

_The Espada's swords. _

The cry of one of the chairs woke me up and my hand jumped to my waist. No sword, but would I want to defend a coffee shop from an intruder? Actually, it was quite the opposite. I knew the guy, his head in his hands, leaning up against the counter, yep, I knew him.

"You're up late, Ichigo. What's up?" I tried to toss off my dream. This guy had gone through worst than me. I still had my powers, though I didn't dare even think of using them. The orange haired teen looked up.

"I couldn't sleep. I didn't want to keep anybody else up…" his eyes narrowed, "You're Urahara's cousin…Soleena?"

I happened to hate that name.

"Sola."

"Oh right, yeah, sorry," He rubbed his eyes, yawned and leaned even further into the table.

"What can I get you?" I yawned in response, "I don't serve caffeine at eleven at night before you ask."

That got a tiny laugh, "Fine then, anything."

I went back to fix him something. My dream kept playing in the background of my thoughts like it was one instant reply. I knew it all too well.

_They were all quiet without their masters carrying them around. Really very creepy, like bodies without heads. I wandered to the one that I wanted to see. It was closure of types, I supposed. The blue hilt caught my attention; Murciélago glared from its spot. I heard how Ulquiorra had simply given out from his wounds. He was stronger than that…why did he go down without a fight?_

_My fingers touched the blade. Soulless Jerk. Even though I had backstabbed him in the end, there was a tiny bit of truth there. Ulquiorra and I had become partners in crime. Well, maybe not partners, per say, but just more of companions of types? I shook my head and smiled. He was still annoying._

_I took the sword from the wall. This was worth a try. Maybe even if not that, it would bug me until I tried anyways._

_Nine swords glimmered on. _

"So tell me, what really brings you to the coffee shop for the third night in a row with the same sad excuse?" I passed him the steaming beverage and he sniffed it up.

"My excuse isn't sad, it's the truth," He huffed.

"Okay," I grinned, taking my own tea in my hands, "I can guess, right?"

"No."

I swirled the teabag in my mug, managing not to send the contents flying. The ex-shinigami still didn't know that he was talking to an ex-Arrancar. Oh the irony. Ichigo took a sip and probably burned half his tongue.

"I haven't seen any of your friends around lately. You usually gaggling around with them," I hit the nail straight on the head. The smoke from his cup went flying away.

"Nah, I don't think that I will be hanging out with them anymore," He mumbled.

"…not strong enough, eh?" I pushed my luck. It shoved back.

His eyes lit up, "I am strong enough! I just don't want to."

"I am sure you are. If you owe them for something, I bet that they will understand. Come on, that's what friends are for," This was a big guess, never had a real, real friend before. At least, not one that didn't try to destroy me in the end or would do the above if he knew about my past.

"I don't owe them anything."

"Ah, what is it then?"

_Las Noches crawled away from my sight. The empty desert replaced the scene. Well, it wasn't quite as empty as I had originally thought. Three things sat on this plane: A rock, a bush and an Espada._

_"Wow Ulquiorra! I love what you've done with the place," I said sarcastically as I walked over to him, "the dead plant is really a nice touch."_

_"Silence, trash."_

_I closed in to see just how broken Ulquiorra had become. He looked as if he had nothing left in the world for him, no driving force, just letting the world slip through his fingers. It was sad. My anger dashed away with the moon above my head. He didn't even look up as I came within slashing distance. Even the air around him was depressing. _

_I traced his point of view, "Do you have to water it?"_

_No," he coldly replied._

_"Can I touch it?"_

_"No."_

_"Can I…look at it?"_

_"No."_

_"Can I breathe on it?"_

_Finally, his customary annoyance flashed into existence, "No, you may not do anything."_

_It was like any other bush, white, stony and dead, "It really isn't that special."_

_"You truly understand nothing, or nor will you ever comprehend anything. You are worthless waste of time," Was the response I got._

_"Wow. Where did Ulquiorra go and who was sitting in front of me?" I smirked, glancing back to the bush and then at the illusionary Espada._

_"Ulquiorra Schiffer is dead."_

_"Fine, maybe his is, but if this you is just going to brew over a piece of dead plant life for the next who-knows-how-long, then he has truly been defeated," I snapped and then softened, "I'm kinda disappointed, honestly."_

_"I am now nothing in a world of nothing."_

_"That's the spirit," I muttered and we both stared at the bush. _

"I…just can't help them anymore," Ichigo responded and took other sip.

I checked the time, ten minutes still closing, "I bet you can still help them."

I didn't know why I was trying to help him, but I was. He reminded me a little bit of a little fracción I used to know. He sighed.

"I said I can't. I'll just be dead weight."

Slamming my cup to the counter, I made the remaining awake people in the shop jump, "Then get strong again. There is no harm in that. Work hard and maybe with a bit of effort, you can help again."

Silly person, here I was giving advice to get stronger and yet, I had ran and hidden behind the strong. Ah well, there was no harm in a few words. If he regained his powers, the shinigami would be happy. If I broke into mine, I had a bet the shinigami would be a little less happy.

"I don't think that I could help again if I tried. They'll just have to go on without me. I can't protect them."

"You still can."

"How? He growled.

_"I digress," Ulquiorra Schiffer cut into his own silence, "I should have killed you permanently when I had the chance."_

_I laughed a bit. "Probably."_

_"I wouldn't be here and then Lord Aizen would have conquered the Soul Society."_

_Carefully, I took a seat next to him, "Did you know that he killed Harribel when she was one of the last Espada alive?"_

_"Harribel was weak, she made attachments. She depended on the people around her. Lord Aizen made the correct choice."_

_"No, he cut her down because he said that he realized that the Espada as a whole were weak. That they couldn't stand with him. That they were inferior to himself," That guy really had an ego, I was happy that he was somewhere deep in a hole._

_"…You are mistaken."_

"How can that be? How can't that be? Even if you can't protect them or whatever, you can still help them. Be there. Make them laugh. Defend them in any way that you can. Don't just turn your back on them," I didn't know where this was coming from. "Even if you can't physically protect them," my anger fell away as I sighed, "please, try to be there, so they don't have to stand there on their own, without anybody to catch them if they fall."

Now, it was our turn to break into silence. I stared at my tea. That was a habit of Ulquiorra's just looking at the hot water. I guess it was therapeutic. Or maybe it was just nice to look at tea.

"I don't think that I can do that. I don't think that I can…pretend that I am happy."

I looked up into his eyes, "I never said you had too."

_"Why would I lie? That's what happened Ulquiorra, Harribel died and right after that Aizen was captured."_

_His eyes narrowed, "Get out."_

_I turned to face him completely on, "Why did you play Aizen's game? Huh? You made me feel like I was really part of your fraccion. That I belonged somewhere finally. You even taught me to fight."_

_"Lord Aizen ordered me to. I had no choice."_

_"Oh, I think you had a choice."_

"Just try to be happy," I looked up at the clock, "and maybe you will be someday."

He smiled, "kill two birds with one stone."

"…Or strike down one ibis," the familiar words came back to me. I shook my head at his look and stood.

"Get out of here. Its closing time and I'm sick of playing the wisdom role."

_"If you are inferring that I had…a feeling on friendship with you? That was never the case." _

_"Why make me Higher Fraccion then?" _

_"It was Aizen's diversion to keep your mind off of Urahara until he could deal with you."_

_"Oh."_

Ichigo took the tea and stretched his legs, "Thanks…for the advice."

I laughed as best I could, "I know nothing about you people. I just try my best to get by and stay out of trouble."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothin'." I turned away to dump away the leftover coffee. "But if you keep coming to this shop gloomy all the time, then I am not going to let you in. You're depressing my sleeping customers."

It was true, almost everybody else in the shop was asleep.

Waving, the ex-shinigami left the shop . I never saw him there again. After I cleared out the coffee shop, I turned to my tubular object.

_"Disappointed aren't you?" There was a tinge of amusement in his voice, "It was always orders. All lies and illusions."_

_"I somehow don't believe it."_

_Ulquiorra looked at me for the first time, "I don't need your insolence. Leave. Don't come back."_

_"Sound familier, eh?" I got to my feet, "Fine, I'll leave. But I'm taking you with me, so then I can come torture you whenever I want."_

_"Trash."_

_"See yah," I let his world slip away._

I took the cardboard tube in my hands. The shop was empty now of all life. Popping of the top, I reached inside and drew the weapon. Murciélago glimmered silver in the light. Why did I take it? I could have easily taken my own blade, but instead, I took his.

It made sense though, an Arrancar's soul was split into two, the body and the sword. It was only logical that the outside part would return back to the other half once it died. My hand hovered across the silver edge, still sharp.

I placed Ulquiorra's sword away for safekeeping back in the tube. Maybe one day, I would get through to him. Setting the key in the lock, I headed home.

_I looked back at the place that I had once called home. Las Noches sat, crumbled and broken under the unending moon. It was going to stay there. Alone. Forever. Maybe the hollows would find it, probably destroyed even more._

_Standing back, I tried to muster any feeling for the building that I had taken care of for a year of my life._

_Nah._

_Nothing._

_Shifting the grip of Ulquiorra's sword, I entered the gartanga for the last time. Thank goodness too. In my opinion, I dwelled way too long in the past. There was nobody and nothing there for me._

_So, I stepped forward, through the sapping blackness and into a new life._

_Pretty good incentive, eh?_

**The End.**

.

Strike Down the Ibis

Written: May 23rd 2011-August 4th 2011

Posted: June 19th 2011-November 25th 2011

Quinhywvar

_**The Dedication:**_

_My Parents:_

_They are first on the list for more than just the reason that they gave birth to me. They have supported every tiny toddler step that I have taken towards a life full of writing. They have made this possible. Thus they get the first coveted spot. Thanks you two!_

_Rose202:_

_I could go on for hours why my beta-er is on this list but here is the boiled down version. Rose has helped me grow into a better writer. She's pointed out the good/bad/monstrous/plain stupid things that happened in a gentle way and poked me in the right way. Besides that she's often gave me the encouragement to make me go on writing. As just starting out as a editor from a land far-far-away she's turned into a friend and a mentor. Thank you._

_Nizuna Fujieda:_

_Who has reviewed almost every single chapter since the beginning, I have to just call that impressive. _

_All the other reviewers:_

_September Sky, Shattered Darknesss, AizheNi, Rose202, Aralorn, metsfan101, Vheeri The Succubus, sesshy13, RandomFan, DemonColours, amaya-tsuki-chan, Anonymous, callmeBaby'08' & g0ldf1sh101 _

_Other people_

_My Best Friend (she keeps me laughing), the household dog (aka the lap warmer), Carl (the coffee shop guy that gave me the idea for the overabundance of tea), my favorite fanfiction stories (inspiration, enough said yes?), the Bleach Wiki (raided for information too many times to know), my laptop (faithful and ever non-crashing), Cherry (the car, shipped me around places), the person that found caffeine (I will hug you to death), Peter the Second (my printer), everybody who works at my usual coffee shops (who served me over 174 cups of tea over the duration of this story), my moved away friend (inspired much of Sola) and of course, everybody/thing that I have ever come in contact with! Good enough? I think so. :)_

_If you read though all that I am impressed. _

_**The Final Blabberings:**_

_I will keep this short. I promise. _

_Strike Down the Ibis means so much to me, Sola and the story has led me back into writing. This in itself is more important to me than anything else. I am going to do my best to keep on this path because I am so happy. Sola, herself, is one of the best characters that I have ever created and I am happy that I could share her with all of you. _

_I am going to explain this the same way that I explained it to Rose. There is no sequel to this story, nor will there ever be. Here's the reason why._ _Think of everything that Sola has gone through. She been betrayed, killed and had her whole world dumped upside down. I believe that the best thing for me to do it let Sola, this finally happy human Sola, _go. _Maybe someday, she'll get a place of her own and have a pet goldfish named Taco. I imagine, after many years and she matures some more, for her to met someone that she could be happy with. Don't think that I don't want to finish her story, but it is best for me to let her be happy. Some things are meant to be short and sweet. _

_I didn't forget my promise about the drabbles did I? Nope! Just go up to my Author's Page and you'll see that I have a new story about the adventures of a certain fraccion before everything went haywire._

_So my amazing readers, this could be good bye for some of you. So as for the last time, please review, even if it is for the first time._

_Thank you all so much,_

_-Quinhwyvar_

___________Bleach, Ulquiorra and co. do not belong to me but to the awesome Tite Kubo. Sola is her own creation, therefore copyrighted to herself (she finally won the legal battle) I still own the plot and the ideas.___________


End file.
